


Fresh Starts and Fresh Coffee

by dummysapphic



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Adora (She-Ra) Needs a Hug, Adora Needs Therapy (She-Ra), Adora-centric (She-Ra), Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Tattoo Parlor, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety, Anxious Adora (She-Ra), Blood and Violence, Catra (She-Ra) Needs a Hug, Catra (She-Ra) Redemption, Child Abuse, F/F, F/M, Human Catra (She-Ra), Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, Nightmares, Panic Attacks, Past Abuse, Shadow Weaver | Light Spinner (She-Ra)'s A+ Parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-21
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:13:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 44,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27651155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dummysapphic/pseuds/dummysapphic
Summary: Adora sighs and slides her backpack off her tired shoulders and onto the dusty floor. This place would be her home indefinitely, so she would have to make do with what she could get, even if it was an old empty apartment in a town she’d never been in before. The alternative was a lot worse, she knows.Her thoughts are interrupted by the faint jingle of keys unlocking the front door and two people talking.----OR: Adora has been alone for her entire life until... she's not.
Relationships: Adora & Glimmer (She-Ra), Adora & Huntara (She-Ra), Adora & Lonnie (She-ra), Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Catra & Scorpia (She-Ra), Mermista/Sea Hawk (She-Ra), Perfuma/Scorpia (She-Ra)
Comments: 179
Kudos: 435





	1. Did I Earn This?

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, this is a REALLY self-indulgent fic, so I'm really hoping you guys enjoy it because it means a lot to me. 
> 
> If you want to give me any constructive criticism or just say what you thought of the fic, you should leave a comment! Or, you could give a kudo! I really appreciate either and they really motivate me.
> 
> I'll give some backstory so this fic makes a little more sense:  
> The Fright Zone is an orphanage. Adora went to the Fright Zone until she aged out at 18. She spent one year in a shelter, and then she lived in her car for two years. She gets a job at Brightmoon Café and, after working there for a few months, rents the apartment above it. Getting the job and being able to rent the apartment was really difficult due to her living situation, but Angella (the shop owner) was really helpful. Adora doesn't talk to anyone she works with until Bow and Glimmer show up. Nobody at Brightmoon café knows that Adora is from the FZ, except for Angella, Glimmer, and Bow. 
> 
> Horde Tattooing is the tattoo shop directly beside the café. It's run by Huntara. Catra, Scorpia, Lonnie, Double Trouble, and Entrapta work there. Hordak is their higher up, and he's rarely in the shop. Horde Prime doesn't exist in this universe. Catra, Scorpia, and Entrapta live in the apartment above the tattoo shop.
> 
> The rest will be explained. Hope you enjoy this!

\----  
**Adora, Now**

After walking up the staircase to the second floor, Adora steps through the worn-down door into her new apartment with a single backpack holding all her belongings slung on her shoulders. As she closes and locks the door, Adora looks around the living space.

It’s pretty large, with three small bedrooms, a clean kitchen, and a nice living room. The early morning sun is shining through the curtain-less windows. Despite the impressive size, the apartment is dull and empty. There’s not a single piece of furniture that she can see, and it looks like nobody has lived here in years.

Adora sighs and slides her backpack off her tired shoulders and onto the dusty floor. This place would be her home indefinitely, so she would have to make do with what she could get, even if it was an old empty apartment in a town she’d never been in before. The alternative was a lot worse, she knows.

Adora begins to walk through the apartment, inspecting each room. The rooms were all completely empty and lifeless. She pokes her head into the single bathroom and, after inspecting it, leaves to go see the kitchen and living room. 

All in all, it’s a pretty standard apartment. If anything, Adora’s lucky she got an apartment this great, considering the fact that she also currently works in the coffee shop downstairs. Her thoughts are interrupted by the faint jingle of keys unlocking the front door and two people talking.

She begins to panic, worrying she has the wrong address despite the key she had been given working on the front door. Instead of moving, Adora stands frozen as a short girl with shoulder-length, purple-dyed hair and a taller boy wearing a crop top walk in through the door. Their conversation comes to an abrupt halt when they see the awkward blonde standing in the middle of the living room.

“Uhh… who are you?” 

The two at the door seem much less surprised to see Adora, as if they already knew she would be there. Adora, however, has no idea what’s happening. 

“Hi! I’m Glimmer, and this is my friend, Bow! We’re going to be your roommates,” She replies cheerily. The taller one, Bow, waves at Adora. They both have smiles on their faces and Adora just now notices that they’re surrounded by luggage. What Glimmer said finally begins to compute in Adora’s head. “Wait, roommates?” 

“Yup. What, did you think that you would get this three-bedroom apartment all to yourself?” Glimmer crosses her arms and grins. Adora begins to blush slightly and tries to defend herself, “No, but I just assumed that I would have to find my roommates later. Not that they would show up without any warning.” There’s a hint of annoyance leaking into her voice, but it’s mostly from exhaustion. 

Glimmer’s grin falters slightly at Adora’s tone. “Bow and I needed an apartment and we’re going to start working at the coffee shop downstairs. We know you’ve only lived here for a couple of months, so we thought it would be easier to adjust if you had people who have lived here for a long time.” 

Adora thinks through what Glimmer said. It’s true that she knows absolutely nothing about this town, and it would be a lot easier if she knew people who already lived here. Besides, maybe it’ll be less lonely if there are two other people in the apartment. 

“Okay.”

Glimmer’s brow furrows, “Okay?”

“Okay. We’ll be… roommates.” 

Bow steps forward with sparkling, hopeful eyes, “Really?!” 

Adora sighs and rubs her temples with the thumb and middle finger of her hand. These two are way too excited given how early in the morning it is. “Yeah.” 

The two smiling people at the door run over and pull Adora into a tight hug. “This is gonna be so great!” 

\----

Adora, Glimmer and Bow start talking a little more as they look around the apartment together. Adora finds herself smiling more and more at the two and their upbeat, fun personalities. 

The three of them begin to unpack their luggage and bring in other various boxes from outside, where Adora can now see a moving truck from the window.

Well, Glimmer and Bow unpack their luggage and move boxes. Adora picks her worn-down backpack up, zips it open, and stares at the contents. 3 shirts, 2 pairs of pants, a few pairs of underwear, a red varsity jacket, and a few granola bars. It’s all she had, but it’s better than nothing. 

Bow looks over from where he placed a box labelled ‘cutlery’ on the kitchen floor. His eyes drop to the backpack in her hands. Adora can see him staring, and can already predict what’s about to come out of his mouth. She prepares herself for it, but it still hurts when he asks his question.“Is that all you have with you?” His tone isn’t judgy or pitiful, and he isn’t laughing at her like Adora had expected him to. 

Adora lifts her head up slowly to look up at Bow, embarrassed and filled with shame. She can’t bring herself to say yes, even though she knows it's true. The look on his face almost makes tears appear in her eyes, but she wills herself not to cry in front of these strangers. 

Bow looks up from the backpack to meet Adora’s eyes. He doesn’t look like he’s pitying her, or like he’s about to start laughing at how pathetic she is. He has a comforting, empathetic look in his eyes as he smiles warmly at her. “That’s okay. We can go shopping!” 

The mention of the activity makes Glimmer peek her head from one of the bedrooms, “Did I hear shopping?” 

Bow starts clapping his hands together and jumping in his spot in the kitchen, “We’re gonna go shopping with Adora!” Glimmer begins jumping up and down with him, cheering. It’s clear that they really enjoy shopping. 

Adora giggles at their antics, unfallen tears disappearing from her eyes. She hasn’t laughed in a long time. It’s… nice. 

\----

Once they finish bringing in all the stuff from the truck, the three sit on a couch in their now furnished living room. They all sigh in relief at finally being done. They started working early in the morning, and it was now very late in the afternoon. The sun looked like it was going to go down in a few hours. 

The kitchen, living room, washroom, and all the bedrooms now had furniture. Bow and Glimmer has brought an extra set of bedroom furniture with them in the moving truck. They claimed the furniture was old and that nobody was using them, but they looked brand new to Adora. She was reluctant about taking their stuff, but Bow and Glimmer assured her that they wanted her to have it. After realizing how cold it would get at night, Adora agreed. 

Bow is the first to speak after a few minutes of relaxing, “Hey, are you guys hungry? Because I, for one, am _starving_!” The two girls laugh a bit at his over-dramatic shout but agree with him. Suddenly, Glimmer sits up, clearly having thought of an idea. 

“Oh! We should go to my parents’ house! They’re probably going to eat dinner soon.” Bow also jumps up, nodding excitedly. “That’s a great idea! Ugh, your mom makes the best lasagna I’ve ever had.” 

Adora, on the other hand, begins to panic. She just met these people, they’re obviously not going to allow her to meet their parents. She couldn’t deny that she was really hungry after going most of today (and yesterday, if she were being honest) without any food. Maybe she would just eat a couple of granola bars and go sleep off her hunger. Or maybe Bow and Glimmer would bring some leftovers back.

Glimmer seems to notice Adora’s spiral and pats her on the shoulder lightly. Adora flinches harshly, so Glimmer quickly withdraws her hand. “Hey. You know you’re welcome to come with us, right? My mom would love to meet you!” 

Adora turns to look at the purple-haired girl, only appearing more anxious from the attention. “No! No, it’s alright, really. It’s fine. _I’m_ fine. Thank you, though.” Glimmer and Bow don’t look convinced and, to be honest, neither is Adora.

“Adora. Do you even have any food in your backpack?” Bow and Glimmer look at her questioningly, and Adora looks down at the floor. That’s enough of an answer for Glimmer, who stands up with confidence. Bow stands up with her, excited.

Glimmer holds a hand out for Adora, “Come on! I promise you’ll have fun, and the food is amazing. It’s honestly not a problem.” Adora is still doubtful of that. “I don’t know, Glimmer. You guys have already done so much for me. It’s not fair for you to help me without me helping you.” She begins to fidget with her hands, picking at her skin with her blunt fingernails.

Glimmer stops her fidgeting by grabbing her hands, “This isn’t a competition. We want to help you because you’re our friend, not because we pity you or something. Just come with us, Adora.” 

Bow stands beside Glimmer with a bright smile, “Let’s go, Best Friend Squad! This is gonna be so fun!” The other two look at him with a quizzical look, before they all burst into laughter. 

As they’re laughing, Glimmer pulls Adora up. They each go to their respective rooms and change for dinner. 

Adora finishes changing first and leans on the wall in the hallway while waiting for Bow and Glimmer. She’s wearing grey leggings, a white compression shirt, and the thin red varsity jacket that she’s had for way too long. She doesn’t know what kind of clothing is needed for a dinner, but it’s not like she has many options anyway.

Bow steps out next. He’s wearing a cropped white t-shirt, with a black sweater on top and skinny blue jeans. It’s mid-November now, and the weather is starting to get chilly in their small midwestern town, so they need to start dressing to stay warm. It’s also clear that Glimmer’s parents aren’t very particular about their household dress code. 

After 5 minutes of Adora and Bow exchanging in a small but nice conversation, Glimmer finally steps out. She’s wearing a pale pink knitted sweater slightly tucked into a pair of black jeans. She simultaneously looks like she put zero effort into her appearance and also very well put-together. She has a little makeup on, but it’s just a very subtle eyeshadow, some mascara, and a little lipgloss. 

The three head out and Adora drives them to the destination Glimmer put into the GPS of her car. Adora has her own car, but it’s really old and worn down after too much use, and Glimmer’s car is a lot nicer. 

Once they arrive, Adora parks the car and begins to fidget again. Glimmer lifts a hand to grab her’s, but Adora flinches before Glimmer can lay a finger on her. She slows the movement of her hand so that Adora can see it coming. She places her smaller hand on top of the blonde’s, “You don’t have anything to worry about, okay? My parents are going to love you.” 

Adora nods wordlessly, and they step out of the car and walk to the intricate wooden front door of the large house. 

Glimmer rings the doorbell and, a few seconds later, a tall woman with long hair and a soft smile who looks almost angelic opens the door. “Oh, Glimmer! It’s so great to see you.” She pulls the shorter girl into a tight hug, and Glimmer hugs back. Angella stands back up and pulls Bow into a hug, too. “It’s always a pleasure to see you, Angella.” She smiles at him and stands up. 

She glances over at Adora with an almost confused look. Adora considers running back to the car and going back to the apartment. Angella smiles warmly at her before turning to her daughter, “So, Glimmer, who’s this?” She doesn’t sound accusatory, just curious. Adora would know the difference better than anyone.

“That’s Adora! She’s our other roommate at our new apartment.” 

Adora stands stick straight, almost like a soldier, and smiles awkwardly as she holds a hand out to shake Angella’s hand, “It’s nice to meet you, ma’am.” Angella laughs slightly as she shakes Adora’s hand, “There’s no need to be so formal, Adora. You can call me Angella.” Adora nods quickly and shuffles in as Angella opens the door more to welcome the three into her home. 

As Adora, Bow and Glimmer take off their shoes and walk into the house, a man with long, black, graying hair and a beard comes down the stairs with a smile. He pulls Glimmer and Bow into a hug, “It’s so great to see you, kids!” Glimmer laughs as he messes up her purple hair slightly. “It’s good to see you, too, dad.” 

Micah departs from the hug to look over at Adora, who goes back to her perfect posture and strained smile. 

“Hello! I don’t think we’ve met, are you a friend of Glimmer’s?” 

Adora makes direct eye contact with him, despite how uncomfortable it makes her. “Hi, sir. I’m Glimmer and Bow’s new roommate.” She sticks out her hand, which he shakes while smiling at her.

“You don’t need to call me sir. My name is Micah. It’s good to meet you!” 

Adora nods again, quicker, “Sorry, s- Micah. It’s good to meet you, too.” Micah lifts a hand to pat her on the shoulder, but Adora quickly retreats into another room before he can. Glimmer and Bow follow after her into the dining room. 

Micah turns to Angella, and they both have a concerned look on their face. 

\----

The three of them return to their apartment with smiles on their faces and stomachs full of delicious food. Dinner was amazing, Adora’s never had that much food at once before. Everyone was so kind and fun, and Adora found herself laughing and smiling more than she ever had in her entire life. Micah and Angella were so sweet to her, despite having only met her that very day.

Bow and Glimmer go to sit on the couch while they wait for Adora to finish putting the leftovers in their empty fridge. 

Adora walks over and sits down beside the two. “Thank you for today, Glimmer. I’ll make it up to you someday, I promise.” Glimmer smiles at the blonde, but the smile has a hint of sadness to it. “You don’t have to make it up to me, Adora. I didn’t invite you to eat dinner with my parents as a favour. I did it because you’re my friend, and you deserve the best.” 

Adora can feel tears well up in her eyes at that. She’d always been told that you had to earn friendship and love and that it wouldn’t just be given to you blindly. She hadn’t done anything to deserve the kindness that these people are showing her. To avoid Bow and Glimmer seeing her cry, she instantly changes the subject, yawning dramatically and standing up. “I’m really tired, so I think I’m going to sleep. Goodnight, guys.” 

Apparently, she doesn’t change the subject fast enough because they are both looking up at her with a sad smile on each of their faces before they quickly stand up with her. She can’t place what emotion that is, but it isn’t pity. They both agree that it’s time they go to sleep. 

Each of them goes to their respective bedroom door and, after saying goodnight to both of them, Adora goes to bed.

It’s the first bed that Adora’s slept on in a while, and she can’t help the tears of relief that spill out of her eyes the moment she’s comfortable under the blanket her friends got for her. She muffles her cries as much as she can. The last thing she wants is to wake Bow and Glimmer up because she’s being weak and crying. 

She doesn’t deserve any of this. She hasn’t earned the kindness that Bow and Glimmer are showing her. But she will. 

She’ll do everything she can to make it up to them, starting tomorrow.


	2. Destined

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adora goes shopping and meets her neighbours. She sees a familiar face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoy this!
> 
> I would really appreciate it if you left a comment or a kudo! They motivate me to keep going.
> 
> Anyways, this chapter is really angsty :)

\----  
**Adora**

The alarm on her cracked phone begins to blare out at six in the morning. 

Adora sits up and quickly turns it off, excited for the day. She hasn’t slept that well in months. Years, maybe. 

Today is the day that Bow and Glimmer are taking her shopping so that she doesn’t only have a small handful of clothes. They told her that they’re going to Brightmoon Plaza to find clothes, and then going to the local grocery store to get some food for their apartment. Adora has no idea where either the grocery store or the plaza is, despite having lived here for the past few months. She had mostly survived off of gas station snacks and her backpack of belongings. 

She stands up out of her bed and puts on her outfit for the day. A thin grey long-sleeved sweater and a pair of ripped jeans that definitely weren’t ripped when she got them. 

After brushing her teeth and tying her hair into her signature ponytail, Adora heads into the kitchen to prepare breakfast. 

Okay, maybe ‘breakfast’ is a little bit of a stretch. She’s going to microwave the only food they currently have in their fridge, which is leftover lasagna from Angella’s dinner yesterday.

She takes the container out of the fridge and puts it in the microwave for 1 minute. While the food is heating up, Adora scours the kitchen for some plates and cutlery and places them at their small dinner table. 

The beep from the microwave must wake up the other two residents of the house because shuffling and a loud, annoyed groan that sounds like Glimmer’s voice come out from the hallway leading to the bedrooms. Turns out Glimmer isn’t exactly a morning person.

As Adora takes the container out and places it on the table, a yawning Glimmer and Bow come stumbling out of the hallway and into the open area that connects the kitchen, dining room, and living room. Once they smell the food, they both seem to wake up a little more. 

Adora stands up straight again and smiles at them, “Good morning! I made breakfast. Well, I don’t know if leftover lasagna can be considered breakfast but it was the only thing we had other than granola bars and I’m pretty sure you don’t want to eat-” 

Her rambling is cut off by Glimmer, “Adora, it’s fine. It smells great, thank you.” Adora nods and her smile turns sheepish. She should really work on talking less. 

The three of them sit down at the table, Glimmer and Adora beside each other and Bow in front of Glimmer, and eat their food. They talk about random things and laugh together, but eventually, Bow asks the question she was dreading.

“So, Adora, are you excited to go shopping today?” Adora looks up at him and smiles despite her nerves. She really is looking forward to going with them, but is a little anxious about finding new clothes. She never had to choose her clothes at the orphanage, or ‘The Fright Zone’ as all the kids there would call it. They gave her clothes and she never had a choice in the matter. But now she could choose, and she had no idea what to get. 

“Yeah! Thank you so much for coming with me, guys. I really appreciate it.” They all finish their food and clean up the table, bringing the plates to the sink to be washed later. 

“It’s not a problem, Adora. We have to go get some food, anyway. Besides, it’ll be fun! I can’t wait to help you pick outfits,” Glimmer responds as she walks back to her room to change, followed by Bow. 

While they get ready for the day, Adora opens some of the previously closed curtains of the windows in their apartment to allow some natural light to come in. It’s surprisingly refreshing and Adora takes a deep breath. She looks out onto the street below. There’s a woman walking her dog across the street, but that’s the only thing happening. Everything else is completely still. It’s a lot nicer than the crime-filled streets of the Crimson Waste that Adora grew up seeing.

Adora hears footsteps behind her and turns around to find Bow and Glimmer both ready to go. They’re both wearing comfortable hoodies (Bow’s hoodie is cropped), while Glimmer is wearing black leggings and Bow is wearing baggy grey sweatpants. They look comfortable, but still stylish.

Bow, Glimmer, and Adora put on their shoes and head downstairs to drive to the plaza. Bow’s driving today, so Adora’s going to sit in the passenger seat while Glimmer has the three backseats to herself. 

As Bow drives them to their destination, Adora is a lot calmer than she thought she would be. Her plan is to just buy basic clothing, nothing too fancy, and maybe a winter jacket for the cold. Her red varsity jacket just isn’t going to cut it by the time December rolls around. 

They arrive, and Adora is immediately pulled into a retail store so fast that she couldn’t even read the name. Bow and Glimmer seem more excited for today than Adora. 

Adora stands with her arms out as Bow and Glimmer pile clothing they think she’ll like into them. She told the two how inexperienced she was with buying clothes, so they agreed to help her pick out clothes that work for her. 

She’s guided into a fitting room once they’re done while Bow and Glimmer stand outside, waiting eagerly. 

The first outfit is obviously one that Bow picked out, given that the shirt is cropped. Adora already knows she’s not getting this one, given how uncomfortable the exposed skin makes her, but she shows Bow and Glimmer anyway.

They both gasp theatrically as they look over the outfit. Bow looks very proud of his outfit choice, while Glimmer is slightly gawking at the muscles on Adora’s abdomen.

Once their initial reaction wears off, they notice how uncomfortable Adora is in the outfit. Her arms are crossed and she looks like she would rather be anywhere but where she currently is.

They both pretend to think over the outfit, and then shake their heads decidedly. “Nah. I’m not a big fan of it.” Bow nods his head in agreement. Adora sighs in relief, and Bow goes into the changing room to take out any of the crop top outfits he chose for her, which was almost all of them.

They keep going through all of the clothes picked out, taking out any that are either ugly, too expensive, or make Adora uncomfortable.

The only thing left in the pile at the end is athletic clothing in a variety of colours. Glimmer also somehow manages to get Adora to include one dress and a few fancier outfits in her pile. After paying for the clothes, they also buy some hangers for her closet from a different store. All in all, the trip went way better than Adora had previously expected. 

They drive to the grocery store and stock up on everything they could possibly need. They probably spent more at the grocery store than at the mall, if Adora were being honest with herself. 

She decides to drive them back, as a ‘thank you’ of sorts. By the time they arrive back at their apartment, all three of them are laughing and smiling with each other. Adora couldn’t be more grateful for her two amazing friends. 

Adora opens the car door and gets out, but before she can close it, a voice alerts her.

“Adora?!” 

She quickly turned her head in the direction of the voice to see a woman around her age with tan skin, cornrows, and an undercut standing in front of the tattoo parlor beside Brightmoon café. Adora’s eyes widened and she gasped when she recognized her.

“Lonnie?!” 

Bow and Glimmer look back and forth between the two women with a confused stare. They didn’t know that Adora knew anybody in town. To be fair, though, neither did Adora.

Adora quickly walks over to Lonnie and pulls her into a tight hug. Lonnie reciprocates the hug with a bright smile on her face, similar to the one Adora also has on her face.

Adora pulls back, still keeping her hands on the other woman’s shoulders, “What are you doing here?” 

“I live here! I have since I got adopted, actually.” 

Adora’s smile falters slightly as she remembers the day Lonnie got adopted.

\----  
**Adora, 8 years ago**

Someone came in to yell the children awake at 8 in the morning. This was the usual time they woke them up on a Monday morning at Crimson Waste Orphan Home. 

Adora blearily opened her eyes and sat up. She heard a thump near her and turned to see Lonnie, who had just jumped down from the top bunk, now beside her. She looked exhausted and angry, which were two very common emotions at eight o’clock in the morning on a Monday. 

Adora groggily stood up and the two walked towards the cafeteria for breakfast. Their breakfast was the same as it was every day, large grey granola bars that they said were ‘essential’ for building strength. Nobody was sure what was in those bars, but they definitely weren’t what any 14-year-old should be eating. 

As Adora and Lonnie at their bars in comfortable silence, a tall woman with black hair and an emotionless look on her face approaches the two girls. 

“Lonnie, come here. I need to speak to you,” the woman says in a dark, stern voice. Adora avoids eye contact and continues eating, trying to force herself to stay calm and act natural.

The woman’s name was Sharon Weaver, but all the kids called her Shadow Weaver when she wasn’t listening. But that’s the thing with Shadow Weaver. Nobody knew when she was or wasn’t listening. 

“Yes Ms. Weaver,” Lonnie stood up with perfect posture and a blank face as she walked with Shadow Weaver down a corridor. 

Adora felt anxious for her friend, and couldn’t finish her food due to the sick feeling in her stomach. She threw the bars into a garbage can when nobody was looking and sat back down.

\----

Adora was doing her homework when Lonnie ran into the study room with a bright, excited smile on her face. Adora felt herself let out the breath she didn’t know she was holding at the sight of her happy friend.

Lonnie stood in front of her, jumping with excitement. “I got adopted!” 

Adora could almost feel her heart be ripped out of her chest at those familiar words. She forced a smile onto her face, “Really?” 

Lonnie didn’t seem to notice her friend’s sadness, “Yes! I just met my new family, and they’re so nice! They have-” 

Adora tries to listen, she really does, but Lonnie’s words are drowned out by her loud thoughts.

This exact situation has happened more times than she can remember. She’ll make a friend, she’ll let herself be vulnerable and get close with them, and then they’ll leave. Whether they’ll get adopted, or get sent to a new facility, it doesn’t matter. It hurts the same every single time. It goes the same way every time. She’ll make a new friend, and she’ll tell herself “This time they’ll stay. This time they won’t leave me,” and then once they do leave, so does a little bit of her hope. 

By the time she becomes friends with Lonnie, she’s down to her last shreds of hope. They were friends for only two years, but it was the longest friendship Adora ever had. She had actually begun to think that, maybe, just this once, she would get to keep one friend. One single friend that would stay with her.

What an idiot she was. How could she possibly think that, after all this time, someone would finally stay? How could she possibly think that anyone would want to be her friend? Adora wouldn’t make that mistake again. She couldn’t. Adora knew then that she was destined for a life alone.

Later, she watched Lonnie get into a car with her new family from the window of the orphanage. Lonnie waved at her as she smiled, but Adora couldn’t find it in herself to do anything but stare with an empty look in her eyes. 

That was the last time Adora saw Lonnie, and the last time she made a friend. 

\----  
**Adora, Now**

Adora somehow finds it in herself to smile at Lonnie, but takes her hands off her shoulders, “That’s great! I’m so happy for you.” 

Lonnie seems to see Adora’s distress and changes the subject quickly, “So, what are you doing here?” 

Adora is grateful for the change, “Oh, I went shopping with my friends! I just moved next door a couple months ago.” Lonnie’s eyes widen at that, “Oh, you live next door?” Adora nods with a grin.

“Where did you move from?” 

The question was meant to be simple small talk, but Adora can already feel her heartbeat quicken. She doesn’t want Lonnie to know that she was never adopted. That she was never wanted. 

“I-...” Adora takes a small step back, already considering escape plans. She turns to Glimmer’s car, where Bow and Glimmer are turned away from her talking. They likely wanted to give her privacy. Adora greatly appreciated that before, but now she desperately wishes they would look her way and get her out of here.

Lonnie's brows furrow, but the confusion quickly turns to sadness when she realizes why Adora isn’t answering. “You… you were never adopted?” She’s almost whispering, despite nobody being around them. 

Adora turns her head down to look at the sidewalk and wills the tears in her eyes not to roll down her face. The one thing that would make this so much worse is Lonnie seeing her cry. She doesn’t nod or say yes, but Lonnie knows it’s true. 

Lonnie places her hands on each of her shoulders, which makes Adora quickly lift her head to look at her with a confused look. Their eyes are both shining with unshed tears, but Lonnie smiles at the blonde sadly. “That’s okay, Adora. I’m glad to see you’re doing well.” She tries to change the subject to make her feel better, “Isn’t it so crazy that we’d both end up in the same small town, though?” 

It really was a coincidence, when Adora thought about it. Most people who go to the Crimson Waste stay in the Crimson Waste. And if they do leave, they don’t go very far. They definitely don’t drive 2 hours to a small town called Brightmoon, which is known for its beautiful scenery and friendly people. 

Adora giggles, and the unshed tears clear from both of their eyes. “Yeah, that is crazy.” 

“So, can I meet those friends of yours over there? Or are they just going to continue pretending not to see us.” Adora laughs louder and waves to her friends, who turn instantly and walk over.

Glimmer and Bow stand beside Adora with smiles on their faces. Adora turns to that she’s facing all three of them, “Guys, this is Lonnie. We went to the Fright Zone together,” Lonnie snickers at the nickname, “Lonnie, these are Glimmer and Bow. They’re my roommates, and we all work at the coffee shop beside here.” 

Lonnie shakes both of their hands out of politeness, “It’s great to meet you two. I hope you’re taking good care of Adora, here. She’s not very good at doing that herself.” Lonnie punches Adora in the shoulder lightly. Glimmer and Bow laugh a little, and Adora blushes sheepishly.

Their conversation goes well from there, and Bow, Glimmer, and Adora are about to head back to their apartment when Lonnie calls one last thing.

“Hey! You wanna meet your other neighbours?” She has one eyebrow raised as she awaits an answer.

The three walk back, nodding, and Lonnie guides them to the front door of Horde Tattooing. 

\----

She spins around in the chair behind the cash register again hoping it’ll speed up time. It doesn’t.

She groans loudly and Scorpia, the only other person in the store, laughs. “Today is so slow! What are we supposed to do?!” Catra throws her arms out in front of her wildly.

Today has been a really slow day at the parlour. They’ve finished all their appointments for today, and nobody has come in since then. Huntara’s doing paperwork in her office at the back, and Catra, Scorpia, and Lonnie are waiting for more customers. Well, Catra and Scorpia are. Lonnie went for her break 10 minutes ago and hasn’t come back since then.

Catra is convinced she left and isn’t coming back until she peeks out the window to see her talking to a blonde. She immediately sits up in her chair to tap Scorpia on the shoulder with the back of her hand, “Hey, who is Lonnie talking to outside?” Scorpia looks out the window to see Lonnie, the blonde, and two other people now talking in a group. “I don't know. Some friends, maybe?” Catra hadn’t seen the two other friends before. Just as she’s about to turn away, Lonnie punches Adora in the shoulder. They probably know each other pretty well. The other two friends, the purple-haired one and the guy with the crop top, don’t seem as close with her. They do seem close with each other, though. Their shoulders are touching, and they’re practically leaning on each other as they talk to the other two.

Catra’s detective skills are cut short by the three friends leaving. Lonnie doesn’t move from her spot, though. Catra can see her yell something to the three, and then all four of them are walking to the door. 

Catra and Scorpia immediately look away and pretend to look nonchalant as they do other random tasks. 

Catra doesn’t look up from the notebook she pulled out to make it seem like she wasn’t just spying on her coworker, but she can hear people shuffling in slowly. They’re probably looking around the tattoo shop and the drawings put up all over the place. 

She hears Lonnie proudly yell, “Welcome to the best tattoo shop in Brightmoon!” 

That makes Catra lift up her head with a snort. She really regrets it, though, because she immediately loses all her confidence once she sees the blonde that's in front of her. She’s currently looking at one of the drawings that Catra made with an intrigued look, and the bright lighting directly above is hitting her perfectly. Her hair, which is in a tight ponytail, is a wheat-coloured blonde and looks as soft as silk. Her eyes, which Catra can only see one of, are a bright blue under the light. 

The blonde turns back to Lonnie, “Who drew this?” Lonnie smirks at Catra. She definitely saw her staring, but didn't say anything about it. Instead, she points in the direction of her, “Catra.” 

Catra panics, but only for a second. She puts on a neutral face as she feigns nonchalance. The blonde walks up to her eagerly. “Hi, I’m Adora. Did you make that drawing over there?” She points over to the part of the wall that has a paper with Catra’s drawing on it.

Catra turns to the paper. It’s one of Catra’s favourite drawings, actually. It’s of a thin sword with an intricate hilt. There’s an oval-shaped blue gemstone at the top of the hilt. The sword looks magical, in a way. She doesn’t know why it’s her favourite, but it just is.

She turns back to the woman in front of her, Adora. She has an eager look on her face as she awaits Catra’s answer. 

Catra decides in that moment that, despite how beautiful Adora is, she doesn’t like her. She seems like the kind of person to have been spoiled their entire life. She was probably the head cheerleader in high school and dated the captain of the football team. She definitely had perfect grades and an even more perfect life. Her whole life has probably been perfectly laid out in front of her, and she’s probably a nurse, or something, now. She looks like she hasn’t had a single problem in her entire life.

“Yeah, I did. What about it?” 

Adora doesn’t seem fazed by Catra’s attitude, “It’s really beautiful.”

Catra wants to smile in that moment. It really does make her happy when people compliment her work, but she doesn’t want Adora to see her smile. 

“Thanks. Do you want anything else, princess?” Adora looks uncomfortable with the nickname, blushing slightly. “No uh… thank you.” 

Catra smirks as the blonde walks back over to Lonnie, Scorpia, and the other two friends that Catra doesn’t know the names of. They’re all talking together in one group, and they all look like they’re really getting along. Especially Adora and Lonnie. There’s definitely no romantic feelings, that’s obvious, but it irks Catra how well Adora fits in with her friends. They’re talking as if they’ve known each other for years, not a few minutes. They weren’t like that when Catra first got here. 

Despite how much Catra wants to go join them, she knows she would ruin the mood if she did. That’s usually the effect she has on groups when she joins them. Everyone will immediately get uncomfortable and try to leave. Catra’s stopped trying at this point. She must be destined to a life alone, or something.

Instead of joining, Catra sits at her chair behind the counter and looks down at the floor. 

Eventually, the three leave the tattoo shop and Lonnie, Catra, and Scorpia are left. Catra thinks she’ll finally get a chance to talk, but Lonnie interrupts.

“I’m going to go talk to Huntara for a second.” 

Catra leans back in her chair, defeated. Scorpia goes back to doing whatever she was doing before those three showed up, and Catra sighs. That blonde really just ruined her entire day just by coming in. 

\----  
**Huntara**

This paperwork is basically endless at this point. Huntara sighs and sits back in the desk chair as she stares at the pile of papers on her desk. 

Just before she can sit up to continue working, she hears a knock at the door. Huntara turns to see Lonnie standing there, looking like she wants to say something.

“What is it?” 

Lonnie looks like she wants to say something, but can’t find the right words. “I saw someone from the Fright Zone just now.” 

Huntara’s eyes widen at that, and she stands up to close the door so nobody can overhear. Especially Double Trouble. They love to eavesdrop on her conversations for gossip. 

“How do you know they were from the Fright Zone?” 

“Because we were best friends there for two years until I got adopted.” 

She notices how Lonnie is fidgeting with the hem of her shirt anxiously as she speaks. “Alright. You okay?”

Huntara also went to the Fright Zone, but she aged out at 18. Adora and Lonnie were 7 and 6 when Huntara left, so the two never met her. Lonnie started working at the Horde a few years after being adopted, and Hutara and her became good friends over their similar childhoods. They both know how difficult it is to adjust after leaving the orphanage.

“Yes, it’s just… she never got adopted. She aged out, like you. She only left the Crimson Waste a few months ago. I-I'm pretty sure she was homeless before that.” 

Huntara sighs. Trying to get back on her feet after ageing out was one of the most difficult things she had to do, and she didn’t even live in the Crimson Waste when she did. She had managed to get a ride to Brightmoon immediately after leaving through a favour with an old friend. She couldn’t imagine trying to survive alone on the streets while in the Crimson Waste.

“What’s her name?” 

“Adora Grayskull.”


	3. Friends? Friends!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adora meets some new friends and one not-so-nice person. 
> 
> Bow and Glimmer start their first day of work. 
> 
> Catra likes to piss people off for no reason.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the support on this fic!! I love reading every single comment and they really motivate me to keep writing this!! I would really appreciate it if you kept it up :)
> 
> Anyways,,, here's some fluff for you guys! There is still some angst in this chapter, bc I never give Adora a damn break, but there is still a lot of cute fluff in this. Hope you enjoy this chapter! 
> 
> Bye Bye!

\----  
**Adora**

Her alarm begins to blare out at 6 in the morning. It’s quieter than yesterday, to not wake up Bow and Glimmer.

Adora slowly sits up and rubs her eyes. After they had brought all her clothes in from yesterday's shopping spree, Bow and Glimmer had forced her to give them a fashion show which took much longer than they thought. She ended up going to bed at around 12 in the morning, meaning she’s only gotten 6 hours of sleep today. Despite how tired she is, Adora wouldn’t change how yesterday went for the world.

She stands up and changes into a tight black athletic shirt and a pair of grey leggings that are comfortable enough for her morning run. It’s still very cold outside, but the exercise will keep her warm and she’ll just get back inside quickly before she freezes. Adora goes into their singular washroom to wash her face and brush her teeth. 

After grabbing a quick snack from the now fully-stocked pantry, Adora leaves the apartment and goes down the outdoor stairs that lead to the sidewalk in front of the coffee shop. 

Before she starts, Adora takes out her phone and opens up the screenshot of a map of the area just so she won’t get lost. It would just be a quick 10-minute run, but she still didn’t want to end up somewhere she’d never been to before. 

After looking for a good route for her run, Adora begins her run by turning right. The direction Adora runs in just so happens to be directly in front of the apartment next door to her, which she definitely doesn’t realize. 

\----  
**Catra**

She pours herself a cup of black coffee into her favourite mug and goes to go look out the window. 

Scorpia usually wakes up at this time every day, while Catra sleeps in as much as she can.  
The only reason she’s even awake at 6 in the morning is that Scorpia managed to shatter not one, but two mugs while trying to make herself a cup of coffee. The sound of shattering ceramic was enough to wake up a very grumpy Catra, and now she can’t go back to sleep. 

Eventually, sipping coffee while looking out the window like a grandmother gets boring, so Catra decides to go outside for some fresh air. It’s like her mom always says, “Fresh air, Fresh thinking.” Catra thinks it a stupid quote but still goes outside for fresh air in the morning sometimes. 

As soon as she breathes in the air outside after closing the door behind her, Catra feels more awake and relaxed. ‘Maybe mom is right,” Catra thinks as she walks down the outdoor stairs to the sidewalk. 

The sight outside is exactly what Catra expects at 6 in the morning on a Monday. A few people walking their dogs, some driving to work, but mostly empty. What she doesn’t expect is to see her neighbour running in her direction covered in sweat. 

The sweaty blonde doesn’t seem to notice Catra at first, but eventually, she looks over and smiles brightly at the brunette. 

She comes to a slow stop in front of Catra while still panting. Catra can’t find it in herself to do anything else but stare.

Adora’s wearing a tight black shirt that accentuates her large biceps and the 6-pack Catra can see slightly peeking out through the form-fitting shirt. Her shirt looks like it's about to rip at the seams. She’s still breathing heavily from running, which is making her chest rise and fall quickly. Her skin is glistening with sweat, and Adora’s still brightly smiling at her.

Eventually, she must notice Catra’s staring because she raises an eyebrow, confused. “...Hello?” 

Catra blinks and shakes her head slightly, already putting on her mask of nonchalance again, “Oh… sorry. Hey.” 

“Hi, Catra! It’s a great day, isn’t it?” She looks sideways towards the bright sun shining down on the two while still smiling. Adora’s positive attitude is starting to get on Catra’s nerves, but she doesn’t say anything. Yet.

“Yeah.” Her blunt answer isn’t met with disappointment like it usually is. Adora doesn’t seem affected at all by Catra, which only works to make her angrier. 

“So, how are you? I like your outfit by the way.” Adora points to Catra’s pyjamas with a sheepish smile. She looks down at her clothes and almost gasps in embarrassment at what she’s wearing. 

Her shirt is dark crimson with a large cartoon cat drawing on it, and her pants are baggy pyjama pants which are covered in little cartoon kittens. It was a joke present from Scorpia, but Catra thought they were pretty comfy and still wears them. 

Catra blushes and huffs as she crosses her arms, “Thanks. Can you leave me alone, now?” 

That finally gets a reaction from Adora, who scrunches her eyebrows in confusion. Catra thinks her expression is absolutely adorable but refuses to show it. “What?” 

“I said can you go now? I mean, why are you even in Brightmoon, anyway. This doesn’t seem like the place someone like you would come to. Just… go back to where you came from,” she flicks her hand outwards as if she’s shooing a cat away. 

Adora visibly recoils at her words and seems genuinely upset by what she just said. Catra almost feels bad for her. Almost. 

“I-I’m not going back.” It’s almost a whisper, and Catra can barely hear it. 

Catra rolls her eyes, “Oh come on. It couldn’t have been that bad. You’re probably more welcome there than here. Now, go! Leave me alone!” She goes to push Adora in the shoulder, but the blonde flinches hard. 

Despite Catra’s words, Adora doesn’t budge from her spot. Catra can faintly notice her eyes glistening, like she’s holding in tears, and begins to panic. She didn’t think Adora would react like this. 

\----  
**Huntara**

As she drives down the street that leads to the tattoo parlour, Huntara can see Catra talking to someone. The other person, a blonde girl, looks upset. Huntara parks her car a little further than usual so she can see what’s happening without intervening. This isn’t the first time she’s found Catra arguing with someone outside of the store.

As she quietly steps out of her car, she can faintly make out what Catra is saying.

“You’re probably more welcome there than here. Now, go! Leave me alone!” She can see Catra try to push the blonde, but she flinches before Catra can even touch her.

Huntara pauses. _More welcome there than here? What does that even mean?_ Suddenly, it clicks. 

That’s Adora. She knows it is because Lonnie described what she looked like to her. And Catra just told her that she’s more welcome at the Crimson Waste than Brightmoon. But Catra doesn’t know that Adora’s from the Crimson Waste. 

Huntara begins walking over to the two while trying to keep her anger in check. She’s not going to yell at Catra. Sure, she’s acting like a dick, but she doesn’t know. How could she? She taps Catra’s shoulder a little harder than usual. The brunette turns and quickly deflates when she sees her boss standing behind her with a stern face. Catra already knows that Huntara saw that whole encounter, and quickly tries to maintain composure. 

“What’s up, boss?”

“ _What’s up_ is that you need to go clean the washroom.” 

Catra somehow deflates even further but doesn’t argue like she usually does as she walks into the store. 

Now, the only people outside are Huntara and a very anxious-looking Adora. Huntara turns back to the blonde. “Hey! I’m Huntara, the manager of Horde Tattooing.” 

Adora visibly relaxes at that and sighs in relief. She smiles up at Huntara and sticks a hand out for her to shake, “Oh. Hi, I’m Adora.” 

Huntara shakes her hand with a chuckle, “Yeah, I know. Lonnie told me.” 

Adora freezes at that, “So, you know…” She doesn’t have to finish her sentence for Huntara to know what she’s talking about. 

“Yes, I know you’re from the Fright Zone,” Adora’s eyes widen at that, so Huntara backtracks slightly, “but don’t worry. Your secret is safe with me. I went to the Fright Zone too, you know.” 

Adora seems surprised at that, “Really?” Huntara nods. 

“Oh, and don’t listen to Catra. She didn’t mean what she said.” 

Adora frowns, “So why did she say it then?”

“Because Catra likes to be an asshole to people for no reason. Trust me, she’s a _real_ softie at heart.” 

Adora laughs at that, “You're joking, right?” Huntara laughs with her, “Nope.” 

Once their laughter dies down, Huntara changes the subject to what she originally intended to talk to Adora about. “Hey, I want you to know that if you ever need anything, I’m here, okay? I know how hard life can be after ageing out, especially when living in the Crimson Waste. You’re a real warrior, you know that?”

Adora's smile gets bigger at that, “Thank you. That means a lot.” Nobody has ever told Adora how strong she is for getting out of the Crimson Waste and it makes her happy to hear that. Huntara nods.

Adora glances at a clock hanging inside the tattoo parlour, and immediately begins panicking, “Oh, shoot! I’m going to be late for work!” She starts running towards the coffee shop beside them as Huntara laughs loudly from her spot, “Good luck!”

\----  
**Adora**

She quickly slams the door to her apartment open at six-thirty in the morning. Adora only has thirty minutes to shower, change into clean clothes, eat breakfast, and clock in. 

She quickly runs into her bedroom, but almost immediately runs back out with a handful of clothes in her hand into the washroom.

In her panic, Adora doesn’t notice that Glimmer and Bow had been eating breakfast at the dining table and had seen her run around the apartment like a mess. They laughed to themselves as Adora got ready for the day in record time.

\----

Twenty-six minutes and one extremely quick breakfast later, the Best Friend Squad is ready to go. They grab their work aprons and head out. They're a little early, but that's only to give them time to order their coffees from the café. Glimmer and Bow both get some fancy intricate drink that Adora can't remember the name of. She gets a black coffee and puts one sugar and one creamer into it. 

That’s one of the perks of working at a coffee shop. Free coffee once a day.

By the time they finish, it's just about 7 in the morning, so the three of them clock in. 

Today is Bow and Glimmer’s first day actually working at the shop and not just training, so they won't be doing anything too confusing yet. Adora helps customers at the cash register as Bow, Glimmer, and other employees make the drinks. Adora feels guilty that she hasn’t talked to any of her coworkers, but she does know some of their names.

There’s Mermista. She has tan skin, blue hair, and an annoyed look on her face most of the time. Despite her not very positive attitude, she’s a good worker. 

There’s Perfuma. She has slightly tanner skin than Adora, but much lighter hair than her. Adora’s never talked to her but from what she can see, Perfuma has a really positive and bubbly personality. 

There’s Sea Hawk. He has a moustache and brown hair that swoops over the black hairband wrapped around his head. He yells ‘ADVENTURE’ a lot, and calls Mermista ‘my dearest’ way too much for a work setting. 

That’s pretty much it for employees since Brightmoon Café is a small coffee shop in an even smaller town. 

Hours go by as they continue working, and today is pretty regular. Well, not _totally_ regular. Today feels different than the other days that Adora’s worked here. Everyone is socializing a lot, and they all seem so happy. Bow and Glimmer seem to really boost the morale of everyone here. Adora turns to see them all talking and smiling with each other.

Adora gets a sick feeling in her gut and turns back to the register. _Maybe it was naïve of her to think that she could get a fresh start here. Maybe she should just stop trying to make friends. Maybe there’s no poi-_

Her thoughts are cut off by Glimmer calling her over, “Adora! Get over here!” Adora looks back and forth between the rest of the store and her coworkers. It’s been particularly slow the past few hours since most people are at work by now. 

Adora decides to go join the group. She’s expecting them to all get awkward when she joins, and immediately leave. 

Instead of that, everyone is so friendly towards her. They’re including her in their conversations, and Adora finds herself laughing and smiling along with them. It turns out that they never even knew Adora’s name the entire time she’s worked here, which is entirely her fault. 

Now, not only do they know her name, but they also said that they all consider Adora their friend. All three of the coworkers, Mermista, Perfuma, and Sea Hawk, said that they wished Adora had talked soon because they think she’s really great.

Their conversation is cut short by customers coming in. A group of hungover college students in desperate need of caffeine. 

The six go back to their jobs, but Adora can’t stop smiling as she works. 

She can’t believe it. People actually like her! They don’t think she’s weird, or annoying, or a nuisance. They think she’s nice and fun, and friendly. 

After Lonnie left, Adora became very hostile towards all the other kids and, as a result, nobody ever wanted to be her friend. She would push them, and hit them, and yell at them, and basically just do anything to make them leave her alone. She told herself that it was better that way. That if she didn’t let anyone get close to her, they couldn’t hurt her later. Eventually, people stopped trying to talk to her and Adora stayed alone until she aged out. Nobody said goodbye to her when she left.

The group of friends (friends! It’s still so exciting to Adora) continue to talk between customers as they work throughout the day. 

\----

By the end of the day, everyone is exhausted. They all clock out at 10:00 pm and, after saying goodbye, they all head home. 

The distance from work to home is a lot shorter for Bow, Glimmer, and Adora than it is for anyone else working there. 

The three of them collapse onto the two couches in their living rooms. 

Adora lifts her head slightly to look at the other two, “So, how did you guys like your first day?” 

Bow looks over at her and smiles tiredly, “It was great! Everyone’s so nice, but now I’m _so_ tired.” 

Glimmer groans her agreement from beside him. 

Eventually, after lying on the couches for a little too long, Glimmer begrudgingly stands up to make them dinner.

Adora gets up with the purple-haired girl, “Oh, do you want any help? I can make dinner if you want.” She’s following the shorter girl around like an anxious dog.

Glimmer turns around to face her when they’ve made it to the kitchen and slowly places a hand on her shoulder, “It’s okay, Adora. You made breakfast yesterday, so I’ll make dinner today. Besides, you aren’t exactly an _amazing_ chef.” 

Adora stutters endlessly at that, “I- You- What are you talking about? I’m an amazing cook!” 

Bow raises his head from the couch as he and Glimmer both give her an incredulous look, “You almost burned the house down while trying to make dinner yesterday, Adora.” 

Adora blushes and sits back down on one of the two couches in their living room with a huff. She mutters something under her breath, but neither Bow nor Glimmer hear her.

\----

Adora and Bow sit at the dinner table as Glimmer brings over something steaming. Glimmer spent way too long cooking, so they’re all starving by now. 

Glimmer places a platter of dumplings down on the table, and the two immediately begin taking all of them with their utensils. Bow and Glimmer use chopsticks while Adora uses a spoon and fork. It turns out orphanages don’t teach children how to use many eating utensils. What a shocker, right?

As soon as Bow and Adora get one bite of a dumpling, they both practically melt from how delicious it is.

“Where did you learn to cook this, Glimmer,” Adora asks with her mouth filled with dumpling. Glimmer laughs at her eagerness, “My mom isn’t a good cook, but we always made this together when I was a kid.”

The group keeps eating and, after they’re finished, they start Game Night. It was Bow’s idea, and it turns out to be really fun.

They start with Monopoly and quickly move through most of the board games that Bow brought with him from his dads’ house. 

By the time they’re done, the group is even more exhausted and head to bed. Tomorrow they don't have work because of some event that Bow and Glimmer refuse to give Adora any information about, but they still have to be up early.

Adora lies down on her pillow and pulls the blanket up. She thinks about how today went.

She made friends. She had fun with her friends. She had a good, productive, day.

As she goes through the events that transpired today, Adora is reminded of her interaction with Catra. Adora can understand why Catra’s lashing out at her, having spent years doing that herself, but usually, when Adora lashed out, it was because of something someone did, not just for no reason. 

‘Maybe I made her upset?’ Adora thinks, but she can’t think of anything she’s done to upset the brunette. 

‘Maybe I’m just not meant to be friends with everyone in this town,” Adora thinks as she succumbs to sleep.


	4. Princess Prom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adora goes to Princess Prom to have fun and dance with her friends.
> 
> Catra goes to Princess Prom to cause problems and be a little shit.
> 
> You can imagine how well that goes for the both of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the slight wait for this chapter! I've been busy with school and work, but I had some spare time today! Here's a 5k chapter to make up for it! 
> 
> Hope you enjoy this! I really appreciate all the comments and kudos and would love to see more of them :) 
> 
> Ok, bye! 
> 
> TW : violence (it's one punch, though), panic attack, flashbacks

\----  
**Adora**

Instead of her usual alarm to wake her up in the early morning, Adora wakes up to Bow and Glimmer yelling in her face excitedly. She’s too tired to understand the words coming out of their mouths.

Adora lazily lifts up her hands to move her two friends away and groggily sits up. “Why are you yelling in my face at,” she pauses to look at the time on her phone, “six in the morning? We don’t have work today.” 

Bow and Glimmer exchange a look before they answer at the same time. “Today is Princess Prom!” 

They must have been expecting Adora to react to this in some way because deafening silence follows this announcement since Adora has no idea what they’re talking about.

“The what?” 

Neither of them reacts to Adora’s morning moodiness and Bow repeats his answer with a little more of an explanation, “The shops on our street all attend this party every year as a little get-together. It’s called Princess Prom because this street is called Princess street. This year it’s being held by this ice cream shop down the street. We all get dressed up and go to this banquet hall across town and have fun with our work neighbours.” 

Adora’s brow furrows, “How did I not know about this? I’ve worked at the café longer than you guys.” 

Glimmer and Bow stop their excited little dances, “Well, probably because you never talked to anyone here before we came.” 

“Oh yeah…” Her confusion turns into guilt.

Glimmer frowns at her friend, also feeling guilty but not for the same reason as Adora. She tries to change the subject as she pulls Adora up by her hands.“Now, come on! We have a busy day ahead of us.” 

Adora grumbles angrily at having been woken up this early on her day off for a little party. Sure, she probably would’ve woken up soon anyway, but at least it would’ve been to a nice alarm and not her screaming friends.

Her annoyance quickly transforms into hunger at the sight of the dinner table covered in breakfast for food. 

She quickly walks over and sits in her usual spot while her jaw hangs open, “How did you have the time to make all of this?” They both look a little sheepish at that. Glimmer answers Adora’s question this time, “We didn’t actually make any of this. It’s all takeout.” 

Glimmer looks embarrassed, so Bow lightens the mood for her. “Hey, it doesn't matter where the food came from. Let’s eat!” They all agree with Bow’s statement and start going through all of the greasy food that they have in front of them.

\----

After eating an ungodly amount of bacon, the Best Friend Squad finally finishes eating. Adora feels like she could cry from how delicious everything was. Bow and Glimmer, on the other hand, looked like they’re seconds away from going into food comas. They may have overdone it with the food, but it’s too late to go back now.

Eventually, after sitting at the table for what felt like an eternity, Bow and Glimmer seem to awaken from their grease-induced comatose state and their energy for today quickly returns. 

Adora checks the time on her phone. Seven-thirty in the morning. Her eyes widen at that. Did they really spend an hour and a half just eating?! Adora almost laughs to herself, imagining what kind of punishment she would receive in the Fright Zone.

Before her thoughts can go further down _that_ rabbit hole, Glimmer stands up hard enough to almost push her seat back onto the floor. “So, are you ready for your makeover? This year’s theme is Winter Wonderland since Frosta’s parents’ ice cream shop is hosting this year.” 

Adora’s nerves for finding a dress are quickly overrun by the overwhelming anxiety that she doesn’t know any of the other people who work on this street and the fear that she’ll embarrass herself or Bow and Glimmer in front of everyone. 

She immediately begins thinking of a plan to avoid this. Glimmer is still talking about her outfit and makeup while Adora begins obsessively googling every store in the street. Bow’s listening to Glimmer, so she doesn’t notice Adora sigh to herself. The notes app isn’t a very adequate place to put organized information like this. Suddenly, she remembers that there’s a small corkboard in her room that came with the small desk Glimmer gave her.

Adora quickly stands up and runs to her room. Bow and Glimmer glance over at each other with confused looks.

Glimmer crosses her arms. “What was that about?”

“Maybe she’s getting ready?” Bow shrugs.

\----  
**Adora, one hour later**

She was definitely not getting ready when Bow suggested that, and she still isn’t getting ready. 

It has been an hour since Adora began her research and it's going well. She has a ton of information on the stores that participated in Princess Prom.

There’s Frosta’s Ice Cream Parlor. They’re hosting this year at some small banquet hall across town. The owners, Alice and Tom Snow, named the store after their 15-year-old daughter, Frosta. All three of them work at the ice cream store. 

There’s Brightmoon Library. It’s run by George and Lance Archer, who are the dads of Bow Archer (Adora is still convinced that’s a fake name, but Bow showed her his passport one time to prove it). The library mostly has history books in it, as George and Lance are both historians. 

There’s Salineas Plumbing. The owners are Mea and Mitchell Salineas, and they’re Mermista’s parents. Mermista refuses to work with them because she doesn’t want to deal with ‘gross pipes’, so she works at the café instead. 

There’s Spinerella and Netossa’s Garden Supply. The two namesakes of the store, Spinerella and Netossa, are the married couple that run the flower shop. They’re older than any of the employees at the coffee shop, and they’re basically everyone’s moms at this point. 

There are a few others that Adora’s about to add to her practically full bulletin board of information, but she’s quickly interrupted by her door slamming open to reveal a fully dressed Bow and Glimmer. 

Glimmer is in a frilly, short purple dress and Bow is in a pastel-coloured suit that doesn’t have a cummerbund so that his abdomen can be seen. Adora raises an eyebrow at the clashing outfits. Glimmer huffs, already knowing what Adora’s about to say.

“What’s with the mismatching outfits? I thought you two were going together.” 

Bow smiles at her, despite the smaller girl's obvious anger,” Oh, I’m going with Perfuma!”

Adora’s other eyebrow goes up as she looks back at a pouting Glimmer. So it’s not anger on Glimmer’s face but… jealousy? 

Before they can discuss further, Glimmer looks up at the board behind Adora with confusion all over her face.

“Uh, Adora… What’s that?” 

Adora immediately stands straighter and smiles, as if she’s about to present a project. She goes through all the information quickly as Bow and Glimmer’s jaws fall open more and more.

At the end of her presentation, Adora hands a stack of flashcards to Glimmer, “Ask me anything.”

“Frosta.”

Adora somehow manages to stand up even straighter as she answers almost robotically, “Frosta Snow. Parents are Alice and Tom Snow. They own Frosta’s Ice Cream Parlor down the road and are hosting this year’s Princess Prom. She’s friends with the Star Siblings, who are friends with Mermista, but not Sweet Bee who is dating Peakablue as you can see by the string here. Up means friends, down means enemies. I’m feeling good! I’m prepared for any and all scenarios. I am so ready for this ball.”

Glimmer glances back at Bow to see him also wearing a concerned look. Glimmer turns back to Adora and smiles slightly, “Great. So what are you wearing?” 

Adora deflates. She hadn’t thought about that. She looks down at what she’s currently wearing. A white high-neck compression shirt, grey leggings, and the red jacket she came with that she couldn’t bring herself to throw away. “Uhh… I-um…” She continues stammering until Glimmer gasps theatrically.

“You know what this means?” 

“That clothes don’t matter and I should keep studying?”

“It’s makeover time!”

\----  
**Catra**

She slouches further into her desk chair as she scrolls on her phone with a sigh. Usually, at this time, she would be working in the parlour, but today work was cancelled for some event Catra didn’t care about. Something about princesses, maybe?

Speaking of princesses, Catra hadn’t stopped thinking about Adora since their interaction yesterday. 

Was Catra too harsh on her? She quickly shook that thought out of her head. She didn’t feel guilty for yelling at Adora yesterday. That girl looked like she needed a reality check, anyway, and Catra was more than happy to give it to her.

She glances out her window. It faces the building next door to them, so the only view she gets is a brick wall and a bit of a view into the neighbouring apartment. As she’s looking, she notices a sparkly speck of red swish past in the window across from her. Normally, she wouldn’t pry into other people’s businesses. Frankly, she doesn’t really care about what most people are doing with their lives, anyway. Something pulls her to go see what's on the other side of the glass. 

Catra walks over to her side of the window and peeks over. Her eyes widen when she realizes what she’s looking at.

Adora’s standing in the middle of her room, looking at something in front of her, probably a mirror. She’s wearing a floor-length red high-neck dress with no sleeves. She’s spinning and twirling the dress as she stands, a bright smile on her face. It looks like she’s wearing a dress for the first time. 

Catra finds herself captivated by the sight. Adora looks almost ethereal in the flowing red dress as her bright smile practically lights the room. She looks like a princess, or like she’s magical. A magical princess. Yeah, that makes sense.

Her brain starts actually processing what’s happening. She’s standing at her window, watching someone in the privacy of their bedroom. Catra blushes a bright red and aggressively pulls her blinds closed. 

Once she’s closed the blinds and her breathing has evened out, she begins asking questions to herself.

_What the hell is wrong with me?_

_I’m supposed to be angry at Adora. Why am I staring at her in a dress?_

_Should I move?_

_Why is Adora wearing a dress on a Tuesday afternoon?_

That last question sticks out to her, so she ponders it. She remembers hearing someone from Brightmoon Café mention something about a party. Catra wouldn’t admit this to anyone, but their coffee is amazing and she tries to sneak in whenever she can.

Catra continues to try and put the puzzle pieces together. _Princess. Party. Dance. Dress._

_Princess party?_

_Princess dance?_

Suddenly, she remembers what the person at the coffee shop called it.

_Princess Prom!_

Catra groans as she remembers what Princess Prom actually is. A lame excuse for everyone to dress up and _chat_. She almost shudders in disgust at that last word. 

Although she really doesn’t want to go, she does want to embarrass Adora. It’s only fair since Adora got to see Catra in her pyjamas yesterday. The only issue is that the party is invite-only, and she didn’t get one. Everyone else says it’s because ‘she has bad manners,’ and ‘she almost blew up someone’s house that one time,’ but Catra thinks it’s because the party would be over the second anyone saw how hot she looks in a suit. 

Catra quickly stands up and walks confidently to Scorpia’s door. She slams it open with a mischievous smile on her face. 

Scorpia looks up from a small paper in her hands, “Oh! Hey, Catra! What’s up?” 

“Wanna ruin Princess Prom with me?” 

Scorpia doesn’t seem to be expecting this and it’s obvious in her facial expression. “What?”

Catra decides to try a different approach, “I want to go to Princess Prom.”

Scorpia practically has stars in her eyes as she engulfs Catra into a tight hug, “Really?! Oh man, this is so exciting! Come on, let’s get ready.” Catra groans, partly because her ribs are being crushed and because she really doesn't want to get ready.

Catra is pulled by a very excited Scorpia back into her room to find an outfit to wear.

\----

After an almost excruciatingly annoying hour of getting ready, Catra and Scorpia are ready to go. Catra’s in a maroon suit with the bow tie undone, and Scorpia is in a tight black dress that only had a sleeve on one side. Scorpia has on a maroon-coloured belt that perfectly ties together her and Catra’s outfits so that they match subtly. 

Before they leave, Catra also places the special surprise she planned for the party into the trunk of the car. This was going to be so much fun.

They get into Scorpia’s car and head to the address given to Scorpia in her invite (Catra was very angry that Scorpia got one and she didn’t). Catra imagines what Adora’s face will look like when she shows up.

\----

The three of them have just spent the last two hours getting Adora ready. 

Two. Hours.

It would’ve been much faster if she wasn’t as stubborn, but she was just very specific about her appearance. She and Glimmer went back and forth for practically an hour choosing a hairstyle that Adora is comfortable with and is also suitable for a party.

Then came the Dress Situation. Adora had bought some dresses when they went shopping a couple of days ago, but Adora was reluctant to wear any of them. She would find any excuse not to wear them, and it almost got to the point where Adora was running around the house while being chased by a dress-wielding Glimmer. 

Eventually, she decided on a red floor-length dress that went up to her neck and didn’t have any sleeves. Comfortable, while also not making her feel out of place. Glimmer and Bow left her alone in her room to clean up the mess they made searching for stuff while they went and cleaned their similarly messy rooms.

Adora looks at herself in the mirror. She looks… pretty? Adora never thought she looked pretty, but in this dress, she feels like she might be. 

She spins around a little to get a better look at the angles of the dress. A large smile platers itself on her face. This is the first time she’s ever worn a dress.

Ms. Weaver always said that ‘dressing up’ was silly, and that Adora wouldn’t enjoy it. Instead of dresses, Adora wore torn and dirty clothing as she watched movies of people dancing and dressing up on the old worn-down TV that the Fright Zone had. She didn’t think that would ever happen for her, but a girl can dream, right?

Mr. Weaver was wrong, though. Adora does enjoy wearing the dress now. Maybe at first, she didn’t like it and felt uncomfortable, but now she feels more confident in it. 

Adora’s smile only gets bigger as she starts to clean up her room.

When she’s finished, she heads out to see Bow and Glimmer ready for her. She looks at the time on her phone. 

Twelve-Forty Five in the afternoon. The party starts at around 1:15, since most people are working tomorrow and they want to function with sleep.

They put on their shoes and, after going downstairs, pile into Glimmer’s car and drive to the hall.

\----  
**Catra**

The closer they got to the hall, the more Catra’s mischievous excitement turned into anxiety and stress. She forgot that, for the majority of the time, she would actually have to participate in this party.

Scorpia sends her some reassuring words as they pull up, and Catra looks around at the people there as they get out. Mostly random people she had never seen before. She saw a young girl with a blue bob pass by them, and Catra remembers seeing her face on the invitation in the form of a cute cartoon logo. ‘That must be Frosta,’ she thinks. 

As they walk around the hall and Scorpia socializes with others, Catra hears a familiar voice behind her. She turns to see Adora and Glimmer come in. Catra pays no attention to Sparkles as she focuses on Adora. She looks even better than she did earlier, with the blue lights hitting her perfectly. She’s smiling as she looks down at Glimmer. Catra feels something tug in her chest at the sight, but she quickly squashes that feeling.

Catra blushes slightly and flees somewhere, anywhere, else. 

She speed walks further down and accidentally bumps into someone, who goes flying onto the ground.

Catra groans in annoyance, “Can you watch where you’re go- Entrapta?” Her anger quickly fades into confusion. The second person least likely to attend a party on Princess Street is Entrapta, but not for the same reasons as the brunette. 

Catra doesn’t go because she’s known for pranking and being an asshole for no reason. 

Entrapta doesn’t go because she’s known for experimenting on her friends and usually spends most of her time in her room doing lab work. 

“Hello, Catra! Are you here to see the social experiment, too?”

Catra raises a brow, “Social experiment?” 

“Different groups are forced to mingle. Hierarchies form and break. It's the perfect place to observe behaviour. And they have tiny food!”

“Well, what behaviour have you observed so far?” Her tone is sarcastic, but Entrapta doesn’t pick up on it.

“Oh! For starters, I know that you’re only here so you can pull a prank.” 

Catra does a double-take, “What? How do you know that?” 

“Because you never show up to events unless you want to cause a problem.”

Catra thinks about that. Hm, it seems that Entrapta’s right. Catra nods agreeing, “Touché.”

They continue talking about the ‘behaviours’ of all the attendants of the party. Catra thinks it hilarious that Entrapta has so much information on these people who don’t even know her. 

\----  
**3 Hours Later…**

Catra groans so loud that some people turn their heads in her direction.

Entrapta stopped talking a while ago to experiment in complete silence, so Catra got bored and left.

She went to go find Scorpia, but she was talking to some tall blonde girl. I thought that blonde came with Arrow Boy, though. 

_Huh, it turns out listening to Entrapta has its perks._

Catra looks around for a man in a cropped suit but turns up empty. The party was coming to an end in an hour, so some people already left. Despite not finding Bow, she _does_ find Adora. She’s dancing with Glimmer on the dance floor as loud, upbeat music plays. She looks… happy, and carefree. The two times Catra has interacted with Adora, she ends up frowning or crying. That’s kind of on Catra, though.

Catra smiles to herself.

It’s time to execute her plan.

She quickly scurries to Scorpia to borrow her keys so she can unlock the car. 

Upon unlocking the car, Catra opens the trunk and lets out a quiet squeal of excitement at what greets her.

Two water guns filled to the brim with food-colour-dyed water so that it’ll stain all the attendants’ outfits. It’s a low blow, ruining everyone’s dresses like this, but Catra doesn’t care. Besides, she was mostly going to be aiming for one person. One over-excited, bubbly, annoying blonde that was getting on Catra’s nerves. 

She grabs them both and hides them underneath her jacket. 

After unlocking the car and giving the keys back to Scorpia, Catra goes to the spot on the second level of the hall to hide. It can’t really be considered an ‘upper level’. It’s kind of like an indoor balcony that overlooks the first floor. Perfect for hitting people without them ever knowing it’s her. The spot she’s in is also a blind spot for the security cameras around the property. 

She takes out one of the water guns. This one has green-coloured water in it. She aims for Adora, who’s now talking to someone near a table. Catra hands the other one to Entrapta, who’s only doing this to see the reaction it gets out of people. Catra doesn’t care what her motives are.

Steady…

Aim…

FIRE!

The two begin spraying all of the people below them. The guns are extra strong and very big, so the water is hitting practically everyone. Entrapta is wildly swinging the gun so it can hit as many people as possible, while Catra is aiming for a certain blonde and only moving to hit other people for a few seconds.

Most people quickly exit the building, but Adora freezes and looks down at her now completely soaking and ruined dress.

Nobody spots the two shooters on the second floor, and Catra wants to make sure it stays that way. She quickly grabs Entrapta’s gun and throws them into a nearby trash can. As she stands there, Catra looks down to see Adora staring directly at her with a furious glare. 

Catra smirks and walks down calmly. If it were anyone else, she might have been nervous. But Adora’s probably harmless, right? She’s just some spoiled idiot that doesn’t know how to fend her herself. 

_Right?_

\----  
**Adora**

She looks down at her previously red dress, which is now more of a maroon-brownish colour. Her hair looks like a pale mix of green and purple now.

People are quickly leaving the hall to avoid getting more colourful water on themselves, including all her friends, but Adora refuses to leave until she finds out who did this.

She looks up into the upper level and spots Catra throwing two water guns into the garbage.

Adora is fuming. She glares at Catra harshly until she turns and looks down at her, but Catra only smirks at Adora’s anger as she calmly walks downstairs. This only works to make Adora angrier as she storms over to Catra with a determined look in her eyes.

Catra has her back turned to Adora when she reaches her.

Adora shoves Catra unforgivingly onto the floor. She tried to give Catra the benefit of the doubt, but she’s sure now that Catra is just a piece of shit for no reason. 

Catra quickly stands up and looks at a water-drenched Adora with a panicked look on her face. It seems she wasn’t expecting Adora to react like this.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Catra tries to act annoyed, but her panic is notable.

Adora chuckles darkly at that, “What the fuck is wrong with _me_? What the fuck is wrong with _you_?!” 

Catra crosses her arms and looks sideways, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Adora can feel her anger rising at the brunette’s nonchalance. “You know exactly what I’m talking about. Why’d you do it?” 

Catra turns back to her, and shrugs “I thought it’d be funny. And it was.”

Adora steps closer to Catra, “So you just like to be a piece of shit for fun? As a _joke_?” Adora hasn’t heard herself sound this angry in years. She doesn't like it.

Catra actually chuckles a little at that, “What? I ruined your little dress so now you’re angry at me? What are you going to do, complain until I say sorry? Not going to happen, princess.” 

Catra's condescending tone is the last blow that breaks down the dam of Adora's emotions and she punches Catra in the eye hard. Catra, not expecting this reaction again, goes sprawling onto the floor. She lies there for a few moments, and Adora thinks she’s unconscious before she begins moving again. She opens her one eye to look up at Adora in fear. 

If Adora weren’t overwhelmed with anger right now, she would have felt bad for her. 

But she was, so she didn’t. 

“It’s not ABOUT the fucking dress! It’s about _you_ being a total _asshole_ to me for NO REASON! WHY?! What did I do to you, huh?” 

Catra continues staring up at her with an open mouth.

“ANSWER ME!” 

Catra tries to say something, but all that comes out is stutters, “I…” Adora can see her entire body shaking. In fear or something entirely different, Adora’s not sure. She doesn’t know if she wants to know, anyway.

It’s not until that moment that Adora stops and takes in her around her surroundings.

She looks around at the banquet hall that has colourful water splashed around it and then turns back to look at the cowering girl below her. She’s still shaking, and her right eye is a dark blue colour.

Adora remembers being in situations identical to this countless times, except she didn’t stop those times. She kept going until the other person needed to go to the ER. 

She remembers pushing people away so much while in the Fright Zone to the point where nobody would even eat near her.

She remembers all of the people she’s seen scared of her because she beat them or someone they know up. Because they thought she was dangerous and would hurt them.

Adora had promised to herself after leaving the Fright Zone that she would never get into another fight again. That she would never have to see someone cower in fear because of her. She broke her promise.

Her anger immediately shifts into something else. 

Guilt. Shame. Disappointment. Disgust.

She looks down at Catra, who is still looking up at her, but the fear has morphed into something that looks like concern. Her breath hitches at the sight and practically stops.

_No, that’s not possible. She couldn’t be concerned for me. I just punched her in the face. I should be concerned with her. I’m such a terrible person._

Adora’s vision begins to tunnel significantly and she can faintly feel her breathing pick up speed. Her heartbeat is loud and fast in her chest.

She can hear someone call her name, but she can’t do anything about it. All she can do is continue to spiral deeper into panic. 

Adora stumbles towards the doors hurriedly. Her hands are out in front of her since she can’t see much of anything except what’s directly in front of her. Everything else is just a blur. She manages to get outside, where people are still standing and waiting to meet up with other people to leave.

She thought that getting away from Catra would help her calm down, but it only makes it worse. She just punched her in the face, left her alone, and _she’s_ the one that’s crying in a parking lot?

Wait, crying? 

She lifts a weak, shaky hand to her face and, sure enough, there are tears quickly running down her cheeks. 

She looks around to see a couple of people glancing over in her direction, worry etched into their faces.

The thought of people seeing her right now causes her to slowly collapse onto the floor, leaning on a wall as she pulls her knees up to her chest to bury her face in. She curls into a tight ball and continues trying to calm down to no avail. If anything, it’s only getting worse. She needs- She needs- She doesn’t know what she needs. She doesn’t know what she wants. _She doesn’t know what she’s doing._

Her thoughts pause momentarily when a yell nearby alerts her, “Adora?”

She doesn’t lift her head up from her knees as she continues shaking with her tears. 

A moment later, the voice is much closer than before and barely over a whisper, “Adora? Can you look up for me, please?” 

Adora slowly lifts her head up to look at Glimmer and Bow, who both look so concerned for her. At least the tunnel vision has cleared, and she can breathe a little now.

‘ _They wouldn’t be concerned if they know what you did_ ,’ a familiar voice in her head tells her. 

The words only make her cry more. 

Glimmer speaks up this time, “Tell us what you need, Adora.” 

Adora swallows thickly, “Get me out of here.”

Glimmer and Bow glance over at each other with a quick nod as they hoist Adora up and rushedly put her in the backseat of the car.

Adora doesn’t put on her seatbelt or do anything, really. Glimmer gets in beside her and puts it on for her, as well as putting on her own. 

Adora looks out the window to see people staring in their direction. All of the progress she was making with her breathing vanishes in a second at the thought of people knowing how weak she is. Tears come out of her eyes again.

Bow drives them home as Glimmer comforts Adora in the backseat.

“Can I touch you?” 

Adora nods after a second.

Glimmer places a hand on her shoulder, “I need you to breathe with me, okay? Like this,” she rubs her hand slowly up and down her shoulder in time with her even breathing.

Adora tries a few times, breath catching every time, until she finally takes one big breath of air. She feels frustrated with herself for taking so long to do something as basic as breathing, but it makes her feel so much better.

Slowly but surely, her breathing evens out and her heartbeat slows. She turns to face Glimmer slowly. Adora’s face is blotchy-red, her eyes are bloodshot, and dried tears stain her cheeks. She must look pathetic right now. 

Adora expects Glimmer to laugh at her, but instead, she just looks heartbroken at the state of the crumbling blonde. Adora’s not sure which is worse.

She tries to speak clearly, but it sounds more like a rough whisper, “I’m sorry-”

Adora is cut off by Glimmer lifting a hand, “Do _not_ apologize for having a panic attack. That’s not your fault. We’re just glad we could be here for you.”

Normally, Adora would’ve put up a fight at that, but she was so drained right now she could barely keep her eyes open. She slowly leans her head down until it rests on Glimmer’s shoulder and falls asleep immediately. 

Adora falls into a nightmare-filled sleep, but at least she’ll have Bow and Glimmer with her when she wakes up.


	5. Weak and Pathetic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Christmas Day in Etheria. 
> 
> Someone pays Adora a visit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK, SO this chapter is VERY heartbreaking and angsty. like Adora does not get a single break in this. so keep that in mind. Like it's just one thing after another for this poor girl. Hurt with no comfort, if you will. 
> 
> Please don't read if you don't feel comfortable with what I've listed in the warnings! I've added a summary in the endnotes that will give you enough information to understand what's happening without having to read anything triggering.
> 
> Despite that, I hope you enjoy this! If you like this, you could leave a comment, or give a kudo! Both are greatly appreciated and motivational.
> 
> TW: nightmare, abuse, blood, violence, yelling, implied self-harm, victim-blaming

\----  
**Adora**

She walks through the apartment door to see the place covered in full boxes. Adora looks around in confusion but before she can do anything, Bow and Glimmer come out of the hallway door holding boxes in their hands.

“Guys, what’s all of this?”

The two put down their boxes and walk up to her. They look angry. No, that’s not right. They look frustrated.

Glimmer speaks first, “Adora… we’re moving out.” Her tone has a hint of annoyance in it. 

Adora’s heart sinks to her stomach. “What? But I th- thought you liked it here.”

Bow responds this time, “We did, in the beginning, but… we just can’t stay here anymore. This is too much work.”

Adora can already see where this is going. Similar conversations of the past replay in her head as she asks, “Why? Wha-what's too much?” 

Adora is so focused on looking at Bow that she doesn’t notice how Glimmer’s anger is growing while they talk. The cap on her emotions finally explodes.

“YOU! _You_ are too much! We don’t want to have to deal with you anymore. You’ve been too selfish to realize that you’ve been _wasting_ our time with your stupid nightmares and panic attacks and crying! It’s- It’s PATHETIC! We don’t want to _babysit_ you anymore,” she sighs. “Goodbye, Adora.” 

They both move to leave through the door Adora came through, but are blocked by Adora’s arms stretched out in front of them.

Thick tears fall quickly down Adora’s face before she can even try to stop them, “It’s not too late! We- I can still fix this. I pr-promise I’ll be better this time. I won’t be weak, I promise. Just please, stay. Please don’t leave me.” She can’t remember the number of times she’s said that last sentence. It’s almost muscle memory at this point.

She reaches down for Bow and Glimmer’s hands with hers but they both snatch their hands away before she gets the chance. “It’s too late, Adora. I’m sorry, but you brought this onto yourself.” They shove past her and leave the apartment without turning back.

More specifically, they leave _her_ without turning back.

Adora falls to her knees as the tears fall even quicker down her face and her body shakes with her sobs. Why did she expect any better? Why does she keep getting her hope up to only have it crushed under her? She thought she was better than this.

She knew it was only a matter of time before they left, just like everyone else, but she thought she would have more time. All she wanted was more time. And now she has nothing. Once again.

\----

Adora wakes up with a gasp as she quickly sits up, sweating. She knows that what Bow and Glimmer said in the dream isn't what they actually think, but that doesn't stop her brain from worrying and coming up with imaginary situations where they actually think that. 

She looks at the time on her phone. Eight-forty seven in the morning. Great. The one day she decides not to wake up early is the day that her body decides to torment her for no reason.

It’s been around a month since the Prom Incident (that’s what Adora is calling it now). After the three of them got home that night, Bow and Glimmer helped Adora go to bed and then they slept, too. The day after, Adora completely avoided talking about it and basically just pretended it never happened. Eventually, though, Bow and Glimmer got her to discuss with them. Adora told them about what happened and a little more about her past with fighting, avoiding all the details that were a little too much for the morning after a party, or ever. They offered unconditional support, which Adora didn’t know how to respond to. All she could feel was so very grateful for her amazing friends that always look out for her.

Currently, it’s Christmas Day. Everyone at the café has a day off to spend it with their family. Bow and Glimmer left last night to stay with Glimmer’s parents, Angella and Micah, for the next two days. They had practically begged Adora to come with them, but she refused. She’s enough of a burden as it is, there’s no point in ruining their Christmas celebration. Them leaving meant that Adora would have the apartment all to herself for the next couple of days. She shudders at the thought of being alone after a nightmare like that.

Regardless of her sleep interruption, Adora gets up to start her day. There’s no point in trying to sleep at this point, she already knows it won’t work. Why not just start the day early?

She puts on a comfy pair of light gray sweatpants and a darker gray sweater and heads to the washroom to shower, brush her teeth, wash her face, use the washroom, and put her hair into its signature ponytail. 

After that’s done, she goes to the kitchen and prepares her breakfast. Cereal and a cup of coffee. Not exactly gourmet, but still delicious in Adora’s opinion.

Breakfast is over faster than Adora hopes and it’s only at that moment that she realizes she has absolutely nothing to do today. All the shops are closed, and everyone is out with their families right now, which Adora doesn’t have any of. 

She sighs as she washes the dishes. Holidays are one of the only times a year where Adora wishes she has a family. Seeing everyone so happy as they drink hot cocoa and decorate their Christmas trees makes Adora miss something she’s never had. 

Oh! That reminds her! Bow and Glimmer got her a gift. She looks over to see a huge box messily wrapped up in red and green wrapping paper sitting underneath their tiny, white pathetically-decorated tree, along with one other odd-shaped gift barely wrapped beside it. They both pitched in to get her one or two bigger gifts, instead of buying her many smaller things. Adora couldn’t care less what the actual gifts were. It’s the thought that counts. Besides, those are her first Christmas gifts, so it’s not like Adora has anything to go off of.

She giddy kneels down next to the smaller gift and rips open the wrapping paper and packaging. Inside are a pair of red and black boxing gloves. Adora almost gasps as she tries on the gloves and they fit her perfectly. It’s like they had these personally made or something. She tries a few experimental swings to see how they feel before taking them off and looking down at the much bigger box. 

It’s pretty obvious what’s in the box now, and Adora couldn’t be happier. She quickly rips open the wrapping paper and looks at the box. A punching bag, and a high-quality one, too. 

This time, Adora actually gasps as she peeks down at the receipt that comes out of a ‘Merry Christmas’ card. Bow and Glimmer almost spent $300 on the gloves and bag set. Sure, the money was evenly split between the two of them, but that’s still a lot. Being a barista in a small town doesn’t exactly bring in a six-figure salary. They could’ve spent the money on gifts for their parents, or gifts for each other. She picks the card back up and opens it up. 

_Merry Christmas, Adora!_

_We wish you could’ve come and visited Angella and Micah with us! They really miss you :(_

Adora laughs at the sad face as she continues reading.

_We love you, and we hope you enjoy your gift! We’ll help you put it up in your room when we get back. See you soon!_

_Love,_

_Your family, Bow and Glimmer._

Adora continues to reread the card over and over again until she notices a drop of something wet drip on the corner of the card. She’s about to look up for a leak in the ceiling when she realizes that she’s actually crying.

This crying isn’t like the one in her nightmare, though. These tears are tears of joy. She was wrong earlier, and she couldn’t be happier because of it. She has a family, now. A real family that loves her no matter what. Maybe this means they’ll stay...

She smiles brightly with puffy red eyes and puts the card down with the rest of the stuff where she can’t get any more tears on it. Adora gets up and starts cleaning all of the littered wrapping paper, plastic, and cardboard scattered around the living room.

Once she’s done that, she looks at the time. 

Ten-fifteen in the morning. 

It’s not even noon and she’s run out of things to do. Adora thinks about putting up the punching bag herself, but that thought is quickly stomped. She can’t put up the punching bag without any tools, and she can’t go buy any tools at the moment. 

She might as well go on a nice morning walk. 

Adora grabs what she needs and heads out to start her brisk stroll around the neighbourhood. She doesn’t change because it’s 5° Fahrenheit right now and she’s wearing a giant winter jacket, so she won't sweat. If anything, the sweat would turn into ice instantly. It's actually a really nice and calming day today, despite the weather. There's snow falling down slowly, covering the street, and anyone who stays in one place for too long, in snow.

She stands for a few moments, letting herself adjust slightly to the cold. It works slightly, and she’s about to turn right when a sound stops her.

“Adora! There you are, dear.” 

Her blood turns to ice, but not because of the cold. That voice is disturbingly familiar, and she feels a chill run up her spine. Despite the voice coming from behind her, Adora doesn’t turn. She stands still with perfect posture as the sound of heels on the concrete gets closer to her. 

In her head, Adora scolds herself for stopping in such a hidden place. She’s currently standing just in front of the alley connecting the coffee shop to the tattoo parlour, facing the direction she was planning on walking. From most angles, it would be hard to see Adora there, but of course, Shadow Weaver manages to.

Suddenly, a woman with dark black hair and piercing green eyes stands in front of her with a menacing smile. Adora begins to cower away from the uncomfortable stare.

“It is so great to see you. You look stronger since last I saw you on the streets of the Crimson Waste. Healthier.” Her tone is demeaning as she raises a hand to place on Adora’s cheek. Adora flinches hardly backwards, almost stumbling onto the floor but catching herself before she can. Shadow Weaver places her hand back down with a harsh frown.

In an instant, Ms. Weaver’s face goes from sickly sweet to pure disgust. 

“Why are you avoiding me, child? I raised you, gave you food and a roof over your head and this is how you repay me? Absolutely disgraceful.” 

Adora feels her fear mix with anger at the words. What Shadow Weaver gave her could barely be described as food and a roof over her head, and she hadn’t raised Adora at all. She’s the main reason Adora never had a happy childhood in the first place.

“Le-Leave me alone.” It’s a meek whisper at best, but it’s the most Adora has ever rebelled against the black-haired woman. 

“...What did you just say to me?” Shadow Weaver brings her tone down to a whisper when she asks this. The fury on her face is blatantly obvious, and it makes Adora want to run and never come back. 

“I said… Leave m-me alone. I don’t want to se-see you.” Her voice sounds louder and more confident, but the same can’t be said for herself.

Shadow Weaver roughly grabs her arm as she speaks, nails digging into Adora’s jacket. If she weren’t wearing it, she probably would’ve bled from the pressure. “How DARE you speak to me like that?! I drove all the way to this dump just for you! To see if you were doing well in your new home. You are an UNGRATEFUL little nuisance that can’t even survive on her own. You’ll be NOTHING without ME!” Her voice gradually gets louder and louder until she’s screaming in her face. She continues shouting all the ways that Adora is useless without her. 

Tears blur Adora’s vision as she watches the screaming woman. Shadow Weaver stops yelling when she sees the tears.

Some tiny, tiny part of Adora hopes that she’ll feel bad for her. That she’ll leave her alone, or maybe console her. Or maybe even just walk away right now. Anything. 

But instead, Shadow Weaver begins to laugh cruelly at Adora’s suffering. More tears come out of Adora’s eyes, and a tiny whimper escapes her mouth before she can stop it. This only makes Shadow Weaver throw her head back in uncontrolled laughter.

She looks down at Adora as she lets go of her shoulder to roughly grab her face with one hand. “Look at how _childish_ you’ve become without me! You’ve grown soft. Pathetic! WEAK! AND YOU’LL ONLY CONTINUE TO GROW WEAKER WITHOUT ME!” Shadow Weaver is yelling so loudly that people from across the street are looking over at them with concern. Adora shuts her eyes tightly to stop herself from crying more. It’s almost painful holding in her feelings like this, but she manages to do it. If only to stop Shadow Weaver from thinking she’s weak. 

Her sharp nails dig into Adora’s face and, eventually, tiny drops of blood form and slide down Adora’s face. Shadow Weaver keeps applying pressure while slowly moving her nails down into the skin on Adora's cheeks until the blood flows harder.

Eventually, Shadow Weaver sighs as she pushes Adora down by her bloody face onto the pavement. She lands directly on her ass as her hands scratch against the rough surface. She scoots backwards until she reaches the alley wall. Red seeps out slightly from the palms of her hands onto the perfect white snow, but she doesn't lift them from their spot. 

"Why did I expect any better from someone as weak and helpless as you are." 

Adora looks up at her past "caretaker" with pure fear in her eyes, but finds enough courage to speak, "I'm-I'm not w-weak." 

Shadow Weaver laughs again, but this time it's more of a dark chuckle. "Oh, come on, Adora. You and I both know how pathetic you are. The evidence is on your arms." 

Adora's teary eyes widen at that and more tears pour out. Shadow Weaver sneers at the crying blonde on the floor, "Look at them." That makes Adora momentarily confused until Shadow Weaver clarifies with an annoyed sigh.

"Take off your jacket and look at the proof of how weak you are." 

Normally, Adora would refuse. She never wants anyone to see any hint of her past. Today, though, she fears what will happen if she refuses so she takes off her jacket and rolls her sleeves up. 

There, on her inner forearms, lie angry, scarred lines that go from left to right across the entire width. Usually, she ignores the scars, and nobody has ever commented on them. Probably because she's only lived in Brightmoon during cold months, so nobody's seen her without a long-sleeve on. But as she stares at the marks, she can't help but feel shame and guilt overrun her. Her sobs get louder. Tears and blood drip down onto her arms. She barely even feels the frigid temperatures on her jacket-less body and the freezing snow falling onto her bare forearms. 

Above her, Shadow Weaver crosses her arms with an angry scowl, "See? Weak. Pathetic. Worthless. Unlov-"

She's cut off by a sound behind her.

"HEY! Leave her alone!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End scene summary:  
> Adora's about to go for a run when she's stopped by Shadow Weaver. At first, SW is nice to Adora, but once Adora flinches away from her touch, she starts to get angry. She says how Adora is ungrateful because she's avoiding her touch. Adora tries, standing up for herself by telling Shadow Weaver to leave her alone, but this only makes SW even angrier. SW grabs her arm aggressively and starts yelling at Adora a lot, calling Adora an "ungrateful little nuisance that can't survive on her own." She continues by saying how useless Adora is without her. Adora starts crying, but SW only starts laughing at her very loudly. SW then grabs Adora roughly by her face with one hand and continues calling her weak and pathetic because of her crying. SW digs her nails into Adora's face very hard and then pushes her onto the ground. SW calls her weak, but Adora says she's not. SW tells Adora that the evidence of her weakness is on her arms. The so-called "evidence" is the self-harm scars that Adora has. She then tells Adora to take off her jacket and look at the "evidence of her weakness" on her arms. Adora does so, and she looks down at the scars on her forearms as SW keeps calling her names. Eventually, someone else calls SW's name from behind her. And that is where the scene ends. 
> 
> Hope that isn't too graphic for you! I'll change the tags to include the warnings listed in the beginning note.
> 
> guys I PROMISE the next episode is a lot fluffier :(


	6. What have we done to each other?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adora gets help.
> 
> Catra gets a reality check.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> let me just start off by saying THANK YOU SO MUCH for the support this fic has gotten! Your comments really keep me going and I read each one of them with a smile. I can't describe in words how happy they make me :)
> 
> Oh! And this fic just hit 20k words! That's amazing! When I first started writing again, I really didn't think I would make it over 3k words, but here we are :) there's a lot more to come! 
> 
> ok, the last chapter was hurt no comfort, so this chapter has the comfort part! There's a little fluff if you look very carefully, but not really. This is just pure angst, but at least SW gets a little of what she deserves :) 
> 
> Adora does actually get a hug in this fic! So the "Adora needs a hug" tag has been fulfilled. That's not to say there won't be more hugs later, though ;)
> 
> I know a lot of you were expecting Catra to be the one to save Adora, but no! Catra still has a long way to go in terms of being a good person. She'll get there, though. And remember, progress isn't linear. 
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy this! If you do, you could leave a comment or a kudo!
> 
> The title is from Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.
> 
> TW: self-harm, yelling, victim-blaming, a little blood
> 
> EDIT: I just realized one scene in this fic didn't post, so I added it back in! This fic should be correct now. Sorry!

\----  
**Catra**

It’s around ten-thirty in the morning when Catra is woken up by the sound of faint yelling outside. She inwardly curses herself for being such a light sleeper.

She groggily gets up with a scowl permanently on her face as she’s forced to start her day earlier than expected.

Catra walks out of her room but stops when she sees Lonnie pacing around the living room anxiously, while Huntara stares at the coffee table with such an angry glare that she’s almost burning a hole through it. 

In all the years that Catra has known these two, she’s never seen them look so… distraught. It makes her nervous, so she goes back into her room to avoid whatever is going on. If it’s important, they’ll tell her later.

\----  
**Lonnie**

The yelling has stopped, but that only works to make her more anxious. She’d recognize that voice from anywhere, and that voice is currently outside yelling at someone. Lonnie has an idea of who it is, but she desperately hopes it isn't who she thinks it is. 

Once she had realized who was yelling outside, Lonnie told Huntara, who was obviously not too pleased to hear that Shadow Weaver had paid a visit to Bright Moon. Neither of them have looked out the window, not wanting her to see them.

Lonnie is still pacing when Huntara quickly stands up and stomps over to the door. It swings open as Huntara storms out before Lonnie can interject. She quickly runs out of the door to catch up with Huntara, making sure to be quiet as she goes down the rickety metal stairs.

Once she makes it down the stairs, she looks towards where someone is talking and gasps quietly. It _is_ who she thinks it is.

Adora is sitting in the pure white snow with blood surrounding the snow around her. At a second glance, she can also see that her face and arms also have blood on them. Despite her head being lowered, Lonnie can faintly see her puffy red eyes and the glistening tears in them. The sight of her old best friend in this state breaks her heart.

Huntara sends her a scolding glare for making sound when they’re trying not to be heard, but luckily Shadow Weaver is a little too preoccupied at the moment to notice them.

Speaking of Shadow Weaver, she’s currently listing words like weak, pathetic, and worthless to describe Adora.

She’s about to keep talking, but Huntara interjects her before she can continue her tirade against Adora.

“HEY! Leave her alone!” Lonnie’s never heard her sound more furious in her life, and that’s saying a lot. 

Shadow Weaver stops and whips her head around to look at who’s there. She seems just as angry as Huntara, if not more, but she’s pretending like she’s not. It’s not fooling anybody, though.

“Oh. Huntara, how wonderful to see you. I was not aware that you were staying here, too,” she drawls. It’s blatantly obvious she doesn’t care about Huntara or how she’s been. Shadow Weaver turns her head slowly to look at Lonnie, who’s been slightly hiding behind Huntara, hoping she wouldn’t notice her. 

“Hello, Lonnie. There’s no need to hide from me, child. I’m completely harmless.” 

Lonnie looks over at the crying, bleeding Adora on the floor with an incredulous look, then back at Shadow Weaver. Lonnie has always known that Shadow Weaver's never been _completely_ harmless.

Shadow Weaver clicks her tongue in annoyance, “I was just teaching her a well-needed lesson. She deserves what she got.” 

This seems to make something snap in Huntara, who starts yelling and moving towards Shadow Weaver. She’s not going to hurt her, but only because that would be the end of her business. 

Lonnie tunes out the sound of arguing as she turns to see that Adora has pulled her knees to her chest and has basically cocooned herself with her own body. She notices that Adora is visibly shaking, and the sound of her trying to breath can be heard from across the alley. It dawns on her that Adora’s having a panic attack. 

She slowly walks over to Adora, as to not alarm her. Despite how slow Lonnie’s walking, Adora still jumps and hides her head in her arms as protection. Lonnie kneels down in front of Adora, making sure not to touch her at all. 

“Adora. It’s me, Lonnie. Shadow Weaver’s not here.” 

After a few seconds of silence filled only by faint arguing, laboured breathing, and quiet sobs, Adora slowly looks up and around.

Lonnie feels her heart break again looking at the sheer fear on the blonde’s face. Her face has dried blood and tears on it as new tears come out to replace the old ones. Her normally vibrant blue eyes look much greyer and are widened as she looks around. 

Despite having looked up, Adora is still struggling to breathe. Lonnie decides to try a new tactic. One she remembers working on Adora when they were in the Fright Zone together. 

“Can I touch you?” 

Adora seems to consider this for a second before slowly nodding. 

“Okay, I need you to breathe, Adora. Like this, okay?” 

Lonnie gently places her hands on either side of Adora’s arms and slides them up and down at a slow pace. She begins breathing slowly and loudly to the pace of her arms so that Adora can hear her and follow along. 

Adora tries, and fails, a few times while trying to take in a deep breath. Her breath keeps hitching, showing that she’s trying to hold in her emotions. Lonnie notices. “It’s okay, Adora. Just let it all out.” She whispers so that only Adora can hear her. She continues whispering supportive and praising words and, eventually, Adora takes in one deep breath. 

Lonnie smiles at the blonde, “That was great! Now keep going.” She continues her hand motions and her breathing. 

They keep taking deep breaths together until Adora speaks. It’s a hoarse whisper, but it’s there. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” she repeats. 

Lonnie stops the hand motions and slides her hands down to hold Adora’s, “You have nothing to apologize for, you got that? None of this is your fault.” 

Adora nods and moves to stand. Lonnie stands first and helps ease the shaking woman up. By the time they’re standing, Adora is leaning almost all her weight on the brunette beside her. Adora looks over to Lonnie guiltily, but Lonnie smiles back to show that she’s okay with Adora leaning on her. 

Throughout all of this, Huntara and Shadow Weaver have been yelling back and forth with each other. The two younger women look over to them. Adora keeps flinching when Shadow Weaver yells particularly loud. 

Shadow Weaver glances over to Lonnie and Adora, and they both feel dread crawl into them at the look.

“Do you see how weak she’s gotten since she left the Crimson Waste? She deserves exactly what I gave her.” 

Huntara glances over to Adora and, upon seeing the dishevelled state of her, looks like she wants to slap the life out of Shadow Weaver. Thankfully, she refrains from doing so. She does still have a tattoo parlour to run, she can’t just be attacking random people. 

“NO! Adora doesn’t deserve anything you put her through. What she _deserves_ is to never see you again,” she takes a step towards the black-haired woman and points a finger at her, “If I ever see you step foot near Adora again, I’ll make sure you wish you were never born.” 

Everyone around Huntara knows she’ll stay true to that statement, despite her usual professionalism. 

Shadow Weaver sighs theatrically, as if this is some sick game to her, “Fine. I wouldn’t ever want to see that _nuisance_ again, anyway.” She looks over to a whimpering Adora with a slight sneer in disgust, “Goodbye, Adora.” The sound of heels on concrete can be heard as Shadow Weaver turns left and walks away.

As soon as Shadow Weaver is out of earshot, Huntara quickly turns back to Adora with a concerned look on her face, “Sorry about that, kid.”

Adora is still shaking, despite Lonnie having an arm wrapped around her shoulders. It looks like that arm is the only thing keeping her up right now. “It’s okay. _I’m_ okay. Thank you for your help, though.” She’s saying this while having blood and tears on her face and arms, so Huntara and Lonnie share an incredulous look. 

Lonnie replies this time. “You sure? What are you going to do, now?” 

Adora nods, but her eyes are still glistening with unshed tears. If Lonnie had to guess, Adora’s likely holding in all her emotions right now until she can be alone and let them out. She used to do the exact same thing after she would come back from having a conversation with Shadow Weaver. The thought makes her frown, but she doesn’t say anything. Yet.

“I’ll probably just go take a nap or something. I’m exhausted, and I don’t really want to do anything else.” 

Huntara nods and looks up towards Adora’s apartment. All of the lights are off, but at this point in the day, at least one other person should be awake. Unless…

“Adora, is anyone home right now?” 

The blonde immediately looks downward, refusing to make eye contact. She doesn’t have to say anything for them to know the answer to that question.

Huntara tries again, “Adora.” Her tone is warning, like an older sister looking out for their younger siblings.

Adora sighs in defeat, “No. Bow and Glimmer are visiting family for the next couple of days, and I stayed behind. But it’s fine. It’ll be… relaxing.” Neither of them believes that Adora is fine after something like this.

Lonnie interjects, “Adora… you shouldn’t be alone right now. Not after something like this. You can stay with us, you know. It’s totally fine.” 

The blonde starts to get defensive, “No! It’s fine, I promise! Now let me go. Please!” She pushes herself out of Lonnie’s arms to walk with shaky, weak legs to the gate door in front of the staircase that leads to the front door. There’s a small lock on the gate, but it’s so easy to open that a child could do it. 

Adora tries and fails to open the lock due to her shaking and sweaty hands. She tries again. And again. She can feel tears pour out of her eyes again as her face reddens with embarrassment. 

It’s on her fourth failure to open the door that she yells out in frustration. It sounds more like a loud sob to Lonnie and Huntara, who are still watching sadly.

Her legs buckle underneath her and she grips onto the gate for support as sobs wracked her body. She can barely hold herself up. 

Tears quickly come out of Lonnie’s eyes at the sight of her old best friend crumbling in front of their eyes. Adora was always the strong one when they were younger. Lonnie wants to help, but she’s frozen in place as she can’t take her eyes off of the girl crying in front of them. 

She's reminded of all the time Adora consoled her after a bad day. Lonnie can't remember a time when she ever returned the favour to Adora.

Adora sinks to the floor, still holding onto the gate as if her life depended on it. Her sobs get louder as she gets frustrated with herself for not being able to do it. “No, no, no, NO,” she cries out loudly as she curls in on herself. Her hands come up to wrap around her forearms as she digs her blunt nails into the already scarred skin. Droplets of blood bloom on her forearms.

Huntara finally snaps out of whatever state she was in and quickly interjects before Adora can hurt herself further. Her hands tightly grip Adora’s wrists as she kneels down in front of her. The blonde only cries more as the opportunity to injure herself disappears. 

"No! Please... I can't- You shouldn't se-see me like-like this. I'm being we-weak."

Huntara loosens her grip on her wrists slightly, "You're not weak, Adora. You're one of the strongest people I've ever seen."

She lets go of Adora’s hands and the smaller girl quickly wraps her arms around Huntara as she continues to sob. Huntara wraps her arms around a shaking Adora as she rests her head on top of the blonde one below hers. A single tear glides down her face. 

"I-I don't know if I can d-do this," Adora says, voice muffled by Huntara's hoodie.

More tears come out of Huntara's eyes, "You can, Adora. I know you can. You just have to keep going, okay. Just a little further."

She’s dealt with aged-out orphans before. Most of them stayed in the Crimson Waste after they aged out, and Huntara did what she could for as many of them as she could find. It usually went something like this. She could only pray that Adora would end up better than the people she found practically dying on the streets of the Crimson Waste.

Huntara glances over to Lonnie. She’s still crying profusely as she watches the other two. Her posture is perfect, and her arms are perfectly straight at her sides. It's a habit that most kids from the Fright Zone have. Their first response to feeling emotions is to outwardly act like a soldier.

She takes one arm off of Adora to open it outwards for Lonnie. The brunette's eyes widen for a second before she slowly walks over and sits in the snow as she lets herself be hugged for the first time in way too long.

They stay like that for what feels like forever, Huntara consoling the two younger women by having her arms wrapped around them as they cry. Occasionally, she'll tell them the words of encouragement that she used to tell the other orphans in the Fright Zone when she would help them. It seems to be working pretty well. 

Eventually, Adora and Lonnie slowly lift their heads from each of Huntara’s shoulders. Lonnie seems to be doing a lot better than Adora, who just has a blank look on her face that can only be described as ‘completely exhausted”. It looks like she’s cried all the life out of herself.

Lonnie stands by herself, but Adora doesn’t move from her spot in the freezing snow. She's not even wearing her jacket right now. 

Huntara shifts to pick up Adora in a bridal carry. Adora immediately buries her face into Huntara’s shoulder again. Some of the blood was wiped away by her tears, so her face looks a little better now. 

Before they leave, Lonnie goes and grabs Adora's jacket that was deposited on the ground. She places it gingerly on top of the blonde.

The three go up the stairs to their apartment door. Lonnie unlocks the door, and they walk in.

\----  
**Catra**

She didn’t actually go back to sleep after she saw Huntara and Lonnie. She was too nervous to see what had happened. Instead of sleeping, Catra sat on the largest couch in their living room as the sound of yelling could be heard outside.

Despite the sound of yelling having stopped a while ago, neither of Catra’s roommates had come back.

Just as she’s about to go peek out the window, the front door opens. Catra panics and looks away to feign nonchalance. 

The door closes, and nobody says a word. Catra slowly turns her head over to them. Her eyes widen at what she sees.

Lonnie has tear tracks on her face and looks like a complete wreck. Huntara’s eyes are puffy and red, as if she’s been crying, and she’s holding a shaking person in her arms. Catra can’t tell who it is since their face is hidden in Huntata’s shoulder.

She’s immediately intrigued at what happened, but she doesn’t want her roommates to know that. She's never seen Huntara cry, or show any emotions besides happy and angry, ever. 

Huntara slowly walks to stand in front of the sitting brunette, “Move, Catra.” 

Catra grumbles something and stands up beside Lonnie, who’s watching the blonde with a worried look. 

Huntara places the blonde down onto the couch and takes the jacket previously laying on her body off. Her body is facing outwards, so Catra can now see who it is. Her eyes widen twice as much as before when she realizes who it is.

It’s Adora. 

Her curiosity is immediately replaced by anger.

Adora, the same girl who punched Catra in the face, was carried into her apartment and is now sleeping on her couch. She could not _believe_ the nerve of this girl. 

Catra scoffs, and Lonnie sends a death glare towards her. 

The warning doesn’t deter Catra, though. But it should’ve. 

“What, did the princess get a paper cut, or something?” 

Lonnie turns fully towards Catra with a look of pure rage in her puffy, red eyes. Catra already knows she’s messed up.

“Are you fucking kidding me, Catra?” It’s a raspy whisper, but Catra hears it. 

“What? It couldn’t have been that bad. I mean, Adora does seem like the kind of person to cry at any minor inconvenience.”

That seems to snap something in Lonnie as she yells angrily at the other brunette. “Adora isn’t just some spoiled brat, you idiot!” Catra takes a step back nervously. She didn’t expect her to react like this, but she doesn’t want Lonnie to see that she’s affecting her. She puts her mask of nonchalance back on.

“Oh? And how would _you_ know?” Her smug attitude only works to anger Lonnie more.

“Because we GREW UP together!” 

Catra pauses. Lonnie’s from the Fright Zone, so that would mean… 

“...Adora’s from the Fright Zone?” Her voice has lost all the confidence it had seconds ago. She takes another step back, her words finally setting in.

Adora’s from the Fright Zone. She’s an orphan. She’s not a super popular, super-rich spoiled brat. And I’ve been treating her like one since she got here.

Guilt seeps into Catra as everything she said to Adora replays in her head.

_“Go back to where you came from.”_

_“It couldn’t have been that bad. You’re probably more welcome there than here.”_

_“What? I ruined your little dress so now you’re angry at me?”_

Lonnie must notice the regret on Catra’s face but continues on despite it. “YES, she’s from the Fright Zone! And you would know that if you actually TALKED to her instead of just assuming you already know her so well. Because YOU _DON’T_! YOU DON'T KNOW HER AT ALL!” 

Catra glances over to Adora, who’s still curled up in a ball on the couch. With more time to actually look, Catra can see a bit of blood on her face and arms, and scars along her inner forearms. She _completely_ misread Adora.

Before she can look for long, Huntara comes back wordlessly and places a blanket on top of the blonde, covering up any hints of her past. 

Catra fidgets with her fingers as she turns back to Lonnie, “I-I didn’t know…”

“Of COURSE you didn’t know! Because you never stopped to THINK about your decisions! You just went along and did whatever you wanted. THAT'S JUST WHAT _YOU_ DO!” 

Her vision clouds over slightly with tears, and she runs to her room before anyone can see. With a loud slam of her door, Catra collapses into her bed as the emotions she was trying to conceal in front of Lonnie come out. 

She can faintly hear talking outside, but she doesn’t care. Catra keeps on crying in her dark room.

She _really_ fucked up, didn’t she?


	7. Comfortable Silence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catra and Adora talk.
> 
> They celebrate Christmas in an unusual way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried to make this chapter as fluffy as I could to make up for how sad the past two have been! I hope you guys enjoy, I'm not sure how good I am at writing fluff.
> 
> We're officially in the 'Friends' section of 'Enemies to Friends to Lovers'! This took a lot longer than I thought. I hope it was worth the wait :)
> 
> Anyways, hope you like this! If you do, it would be greatly appreciated if you left a comment or a kudo. If you're one of the people that has left a comment or consistently comments, ily so much and I hope u know how happy your words make me feel. 
> 
> Ok, bye bye!

\----  
**Lonnie**

She sits down in the chair with a huff as Catra slams her door.

They both stare at the sleeping blonde as she sleeps on the couch curled up into a ball with a blanket draped over her. 

Huntara breaks the deafening silence, “Is _this_ how you expected to be spending Christmas Day?” 

Despite everything that’s happened in the last hour or so, Lonnie laughs. It sounds more like a wet chuckle due to her recent crying.

Huntara and Lonnie don’t live with Catra in the apartment above the shop. Scorpia and Entrapta do, but they both left to go visit their families for Christmas, leaving Catra alone. Huntara and Lonnie, who also didn’t have anywhere to go for Christmas, decided to spend it with Catra. The brunette tried to act like she didn’t care about not having anyone to spend Christmas with, but Huntara could tell she was relieved when they offered.

Unlike Adora, Catra actually does have a family. She used to be really close with them when she was a kid but when she came out, they kicked her out of the house. They said it was ‘for her own good,’ and that Catra wasn’t welcome in their household anymore. Huntara found a seventeen-year-old Catra sleeping in an alley when she offered her a job as a janitor for the tattoo shop. The longer Catra worked there, the more she tapped into her creative side. She showed Huntara her designs once after a few years of working there and, after the correct training, she hired Catra as a tattoo artist.

In the present, Huntara can faintly hear crying coming out of Catra’s room. She sighs as she looks over to Lonnie.

“Catra didn’t know.” 

Lonnie whips her head around to look at Huntara, “You’re taking her side?!” 

Huntara crosses her arms, “There are no _sides_ in this. If Catra knew about Adora, she wouldn’t have acted the way she did. You didn’t have to yell at her like that. So in an hour, I’m gonna call Catra out here so you can both apologize. In the meantime, you think about what just happened and make sure Adora is okay.” 

She walks into the kitchen to start making a late lunch for everyone. It almost makes her chuckle that everyone in the apartment has cried at least once today, and it’s barely past noon.

Lonnie sits in her chair with a grumble but quickly falls asleep there. She didn't realize how tired she is. 

\----  
**Catra**

She wakes up to the smell of pasta outside her door. Catra wasn’t aware that she fell asleep in the first place, but she must have just been tired from her early morning. Turns out, crying for half an hour straight because you realized you’re actually a terrible person is actually pretty exhausting. 

She stands up and walks over to the door, peeking it open slightly to see what’s happening outside.

Both Lonnie and Adora are asleep on their separate couches. Huntara’s nowhere to be seen. ‘She must be making food,’ Catra guesses.

She silently opens her door fully and sneaks into the larger area of the apartment. 

One peek into the kitchen proves that she was right about Huntara making food. The taller woman notices Catra standing there shyly and nudges her head in the direction of Lonnie and Adora. She goes back to cooking.

Catra sighs, knowing she’ll have to apologize. She prepares an apology as she sits down on a small stool in the living room. It’s uncomfortable, but it’s the only chair left in the room that isn’t occupied by a sleeping person.

She pulls a knee to her chest as she glances over to a sleeping Adora. Even with the blanket covering her, Catra can still see the dried blood smeared on her face. She doesn’t get time to think about it, though, because Adora begins to throw her hands around underneath the blanket weakly. 

Her brows furrow as she watches the blonde fight in her sleep. She has absolutely no idea what to do, and she’s about to call Huntara before tears start coming out of Adora’s eyes. Tiny murmurs of nonsense can be heard as Adora continues sleep-fighting.

Catra glances over to Huntara. She’s still preparing lunch, and it’s obvious that she’s ignoring them on purpose. She wants Catra to fix this herself.

The brunette stands and slowly kneels down beside Adora. She has to keep dodging her sluggish punches.

She tries, “Adora…” 

Nothing. 

She tries again, “Wake up, Adora.”

Still nothing.

When words don’t work, Catra attempts to wake her up with a tap on her shoulder. This seems to be a mistake, though, when Adora jolts awake and sits up quickly with her fists in front of her. The blonde is visibly shaking, and her breathing is quickening.

Her breath keeps getting quicker, and it's obvious she's panicking.

Catra softly places her hands over Adora’s shaking fists, “Adora, it’s okay. You’re okay.” 

The blonde seems confused to see Catra helping her, but puts her fists down, regardless. Her breathing is still too fast, though.

Catra places her hands on Adora's thighs, letting her nails lightly prick the skin there. She's not pushing hard enough to bleed or even hurt Adora, just enough to remind her of where she is. "You need to breathe, Adora."

Adora seems to slowly calm down, as her breathing slows to a mostly normal pace. She looks calm.

Then, her eyes widen in fear.

“Catra… I-I’m so sorry for punching you at Princess Prom. It was a mistake, and I regret it so much. You didn’t deserve that, and I overreacted.” Her voice is hoarse and weak, but Catra can still hear her.

Catra puts her hands down with a sigh, “It’s fine, Adora. I did kind of deserve it for ruining the whole party.” Catra spent the days following the party riddled with guilt about what she had done. It was almost entirely her fault, she knows that now. At first, she was angry at Adora for punching her, but now the only person Catra is mad at is herself for being so reckless. Adora's terrified face as she stood over Catra plagued her dreams for days.

Adora seems surprised at how easy that was, “R-really? You’re not… angry at me?”

Catra chuckles slightly, but it’s definitely not the right time for laughter, “I was, but now I know that what happened was my fault. Sure, you could’ve handled things a _little_ better,” Adora blushes and smiles sheepishly, “but for the most part, I had that punch coming.” 

Adora looks down at her arms. They fall into a comfortable silence, Adora sitting on the couch with crossed legs and Catra kneeling on the floor in front of her. 

Catra feels proud of herself for handling this so well. If this had happened a few years ago, Catra would absolutely not be forgiving Adora right now. She would probably be planning her revenge. Or maybe a full-blown planetary war against her. Regardless, she can’t help but feel thankful for Huntara and Scorpia, who saw the good in her when nobody else did.

Suddenly, Adora gasps slightly at her arms. Her blush becomes more apparent as she desperately pulls the blanket up to cover her inner forearms up. 

Catra frowns as she stops Adora’s frantic movements with her hands. Adora looks into Catra’s mismatched eyes with confusion.

“You-you don’t have to hide them…” Catra can feel her face burning up, partly at what she just said and party at how close Adora’s face is to hers. Adora’s face reddens, too. 

“Really?” Adora looks down at them again with a look of disgust, “But they’re so… ugly.” That last word is a whisper, but Catra hears her. It makes her sad to think about how Adora views herself. 

Catra tries to talk confidently, but it comes out stammered and nervous, “No, they’re not. I- Ugly, I mean. They’re not ugly, no.” 

Adora giggles slightly at Catra’s embarrassment but abruptly stops when Catra slowly flips over her hands so they’re palm-up and places her hands on top of Adora’s. 

Catra and Adora look up at the same time. Catra has a questioning look on her face, “...can I?” She doesn’t have to say anything else for Adora to know what she’s talking about. 

Adora nods wordlessly.

\----  
**Adora**

Catra slowly slides her hands up until they’re on top of the scars covering Adora’s inner forearms. She strokes her thumbs across the raised skin as gently as humanly possible. 

“You don’t have to be ashamed of these.” Catra’s whisper is so quiet that Adora barely hears it. But she does, and it makes her heart do backflips.

Adora smiles down at Catra being so incredibly gentle with her. Usually, it bothers her when people treat her like she could shatter at any second, but it feels different with Catra. And, when people are gentle with her, they always avoid touching her scars. Whenever they do it for Adora’s sake or theirs, it makes Adora feel like the marks on her body are something to hide from everyone.

Catra, though, she’s treating her scars so softly that Adora actually starts to feel like maybe one day she won’t have to hide these parts of herself anymore. At least, not from her. 

Catra looks up at Adora, and all of the confidence that was building on her face vanishes as she blushes again and mumbles an apology while she takes off her hands. Adora misses the warmth of them as soon as they vanish.

Catra looks down at something on Adora’s face and frowns, “Do you want to go wash your face and arms?” 

Adora looks down at her arms again. She notices the drops of dried blood scattered on her arms and remembers that there’s still blood on her face.

“Oh. Yes, thank you.”

Catra stands up and offers a hand to Adora, who takes it gratefully. Despite sleeping, she still felt a little shaky from what happened. 

The brunette leads her to a washroom and then leaves. She quickly comes back with a small towel in her hands. 

As they stand there, the silence that was once comfortable turns awkward. Catra stutters, “Uh... Ok, you- I’ll be in the living room if you need anything. Good-um luck?” 

Adora smiles and nods as she closes the door. She waits for Catra’s retreating footsteps before turning to look at herself in the mirror, worried about how she’ll react.

Her eyes widen when she sees herself. Her eyes are puffy and red, and there are tear tracks still obvious along her cheeks. Most of the blood is still there, except for the areas that came in contact with her flowing tears earlier. She looks like a mess. 

Adora turns on the tap and cups some water in her hands to splash on her face. She realizes that’s a mistake when the scratches on her face stung from the sudden water on them. She instead opts to gently rub her face with water-covered hands instead. It takes a lot longer, but at least it doesn’t hurt as much.

‘ _Maybe it deserves to hurt_ ,’ a familiar voice in her head adds, ‘Maybe you deserve to feel the pain, for wasting everyone's time with your weakness.’ 

Adora shakes her head to rid herself of these thoughts. She knows better, knows not to listen to that voice ever again. 

Eventually, she finishes cleaning her face and wipes it down with a towel. Adora looks back up into the mirror and sighs.

The marks that Shadow Weaver left are deeper than she thought they were, and now that they aren’t covered in blood, they’re a lot easier to see. Four short lines on her right cheek and one line on her left cheek. They would likely scar.

Adora can feel tears fill her eyes at the idea that Shadow Weaver left a permanent mark on her face that will stay there for years to come. It’s like a piece of her is always with Adora, taunting her. Forever. 

Frustrated at herself for crying once again, Adora roughly wipes her tears away and begins cleaning her arms. She doesn’t hold back this time, cleaning aggressively since her arms didn’t get injured.

Once she’s done, she peeks into her reflection to see if she looks any better. Her eyes are still red and puffy, and it’s obvious she’s been crying. No amount of cleaning could get rid of that. 

Adora sighs again. Before, she was a crying, bleeding mess. Now she’s just a crying mess. That’s not much of an upgrade, but she’ll take it. She makes sure to pull down her sweater sleeves after she dries her arms.

She grabs the towel and leaves the washroom, walking back to the living room. 

\----  
**Catra**

After leading Adora to the washroom, Catra goes back to the living room and sits down in the middle of the couch Adora was just on. It’s still warm from her sleeping here. She glances over to the other couch to see that Lonnie is now awake and looking at Catra smugly. 

Catra looks away towards the kitchen, but sees Huntara smirking at her from the kitchen, too. She’s standing confidently, with a hand on her hip. The brunette on the couch is confused as to why they’re both staring for a second until it clicks. It seems that Huntara has already told Lonnie what happened between Catra and Adora.

“Shut up,” she mutters loudly as she crosses her arms and huffs. There’s a light blush dusting her face.

Huntara laughs, “We didn’t say anything.”

“But you’re thinking something. So… stop it.” 

The other brunette crosses her arms, mimicking Catra, “Looks like you and Adora are _good_ friends now, huh?” 

Catra’s blush goes from a light pink on her tan skin to a very bright red. Huntara and Lonnie both laugh this time at Catra’s embarrassment. Huntara turns and goes back to working on her dish. It looks to be almost done at this point. 

Soon enough, Adora walks in from the hallway leading to the washroom with a clean face and a sheepish smile. She’s holding the towel Catra gave her in her hands, likely not knowing what to do with it. 

Catra stands up and lightly takes the towel out of her hands, and tells her to go sit on the couch to wait for the food. Adora nods and replaces Catra’s spot on the couch.

Suddenly, she remembers something Catra said, “You’re making food?”

Huntara turns around in the kitchen, “Yeah, my world-famous spaghetti. It’s gonna be a _real_ treat.” Lonnie chuckles at the over-exaggeration of her cooking-skills. 

Adora fidgets with the hem of the blanket on the couch, “Oh uh... You- I think I’m gonna head home now. I’ve bothered you all enough, I’ll let you enjoy your food in peace. Thank you for everything, really.” She stands up and frantically starts grabbing her belongings. 

She’s interrupted by Lonnie placing a hand on her shoulder. Adora stands up straight to look her in the eyes, the hand on her shoulder not leaving.

“Adora. You’re not bothering us now, and you weren’t bothering us before. We want to help you because we’re your friends. And besides, Huntara already made enough spaghetti to feed an entire army, so you’d be doing us a favour by staying.” 

Adora chuckles a little at that. “Are you sure? I’m not even that hungry, anyway.”

As if on cue, her stomach begins rumbling loudly enough for both Lonnie and Huntara to hear. They both look at her incredulously. 

Adora blushes, embarrassed. “Okay, maybe I’m a little hungry. Fine, I'll stay.” 

They both cheer as Adora laughs at their excitement.

\----  
**Catra**

She walks into the washroom to throw the towel into the laundry basket. As she does this, she looks back up into the mirror with a sigh.

Catra just apologized to Adora, and now she has to eat an entire meal with her. Normally, when Catra apologizes, which is extremely rare, she likes to not see that person immediately after again. It makes her uncomfortable, and she needs alone time to go through her emotions. But it seems like that won’t be an option this time around.

She stares at herself with a warning glare. “Don’t fuck this up,” she whispers angrily to her reflection. 

Catra turns off the washroom light and goes back to the living room. The smell of pasta is a lot stronger now. Huntara must be done. 

When she walks into the larger area of the apartment, Adora and Lonnie are already sitting at the dinner table, across from each other. 

Just as Catra is about to go sit beside Lonnie, Huntara comes in from the kitchen holding a large pot. She places it down then stands back up, looking back and forth between the two empty seats.

Catra watches anxiously from the side.

If Huntara sits beside Lonnie, Catra will be forced to sit beside Adora. Huntara glances towards Catra with a knowing smile as she sits beside Lonnie.

Catra sighs. Why did she expect anything different?

She goes around the table and sits down cautiously beside Adora. The room suddenly feels a lot hotter, but she blames it on the steaming pot in front of them.

Catra takes a peak in Adora’s direction. The blonde smiles brightly at her. Catra blushes and looks forward.

Huntara and Lonnie smile at her, but they decide to spare her this time. 

The lid on the pot is opened and they all put some into their plates.

Catra, Lonnie and Huntara start eating. The pasta is actually really good, but Catra doesn’t say anything.

She glances over at Adora to see her anxiously looking down at her full plate. It’s obvious she wants to say something but is too scared. The brunette decides to help her. 

“What’s wrong, Adora?”

Adora looks around at the three of them, “Are you sure you’re okay with me being here? And eating your food?” 

Huntara answers this time, “We wouldn’t have invited you in if we weren’t okay with you being here and eating our food. It’s fine, really.”

Adora nods, looking a little more reassured as she picks up her fork and starts to eat with them.

The four of them start having conversations about random topics. Catra starts to actually enjoy the lunch, even starting to laugh and smile with the other three. She doesn’t remember the last time she actually sat down and had a nice meal with a group of people.

Once they finish, Catra glances over at the clock on the wall. Three-forty seven in the afternoon. There are still so many hours left in the day, and nothing to do. 

As they clean up the table, Lonnie saves her from having to think of something to do.

“You guys know what time it is?” Her tone tells them that she’s not actually asking for the time.

Adora looks up from the sink, “What?”

Lonnie grins, “Christmas movie marathon time!” 

Adora smiles brightly, “Can’t wait! What movies are we watching?”

Both Lonnie and Huntara list movies that they think are suitable for their movie marathon.

As they explain their list, the four of them set up the living room into a makeshift movie theatre. There are blankets covering practically every surface in the area, and the lights are off so that the only light source is the sunlight coming in through the closed blinds. It’s dark enough to watch movies but light enough that you can see where you’re going.

They settle in the room as they start the first movie. 

Lonnie went into an entire speech about how the Die Hard movies are the best Christmas movies, so they start off with the first one. She insists that they’re going to watch all five of them. Adora doesn’t think it’s possible.

Adora sits on the smaller couch as Catra takes up all the space on the longer couch. Lonnie and Huntara sit on the floor in a cocoon on blankets and pillows. 

On top of watching all six Die Hard movies, they also turn it into a drinking game. Every time there’s a dramatic fight scene, they all have to take a shot. 

This is gonna be fun.

\----  
**10 hours later…**

Somehow, they actually managed to watch all five movies while also continuing their game.

Sure, they’re all completely wasted, but that was the idea when they started their game. They started the first movie at around 3 in the afternoon, and it’s now one in the morning.

All four of them are still in their original spots, but both Lonnie and Huntara are now asleep. They had a lot of fun, but they were totally exhausted by the middle of the fifth movie. 

Both Catra and Adora are sprawled out on their separate couches, with Adora’s legs hanging off the edge of the small couch. 

The two have been talking and giggling for the past hour or so about the dumbest things ever, ranging from childhood stories to ‘who’s stronger?’

At one point, Catra giggles loudly at a joke Adora makes. The blonde turns her head and looks at the brunette with a lazy smile, “I like your laugh, it’s -hic- cute.” 

If Catra were sober right now, she would have blushed and maybe punched whoever said that, but right now, all she could do was laugh more, “Really?”

Adora nodded, “Yeaahh…”

They fall back into a comfortable silence for a few minutes.

Catra’s about to fall asleep when she hears something from Adora’s couch.

“I really like being your friend, Catra.” She doesn’t sound as happy as she did a few minutes ago, but she doesn’t sound sad either. 

Catra looks sideways, “You do?” 

They both gaze at each other, “Yeah. You’re… nice.”

Catra smiles, “Well, I like being your friend too, princess.” 

Adora giggles at the nickname, then yawns loudly. 

“Mkay G’night, Catra.”

“Goodnight ‘dora.”

\----  
**The next morning**

Catra can faintly hear the front door open and two very loud individuals come in. She groans loudly at the sleep interruption.

She very slowly opens her eyes, letting herself adjust to the now on lights.

Standing at the front door are Scorpia and Entrapta, both holding many bags in their hands. 

Catra looks around the living room. 

Adora’s still asleep on her couch, and Lonnie and Huntara are asleep on the floor. 

Scorpia walks over to Catra, avoiding the sleeping people on the floor. 

“Hey, wildcat. Looks like you had fun yesterday.” Catra’s very grateful for the fact that Scorpia’s whispering right now. 

“Yes, I did.” She looks over to Adora.

Scorpia follows her line of vision towards the sleeping blonde. Her eyes widen when she realizes who it is.

“So, you and Adora worked it out?” 

Catra nods, but it only makes her headache worse. Scorpia smiles and pulls Catra into a tight hug. “Oh, I’m so proud of you, Wildcat! That’s great!” 

Catra wheezes slightly, “Scorpia, my ribs. I’m still hungover, remember?”

Scorpia lets go and throws her an apologetic smile. Catra grumbles and goes back to sleep.

\----  
**Adora**

She wakes up with a booming headache and a sore back. Turns out sleeping curled up in a ball on a couch isn’t very good for your spine. 

Adora sits up slowly, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

She hears a sound to her side and turns towards the dining table. 

Catra’s sitting there with a bowl of cereal and a cup of coffee. She turns when she notices the now awake blonde with a grin, “Morning, princess. Sleep well?” She sips her coffee. This all feels so… domestic.

Adora looks around the area. Nobody else can be seen in the apartment besides Catra and Adora. “Yeah… Hey, where is everybody?” 

Catra’s smile only falters slightly, “Huntara and Lonnie went back to their places, and Scorpia and Entrapta left to go test out some new robot-thing Entrapta got.” 

Adora nods and slowly stands up. 

She makes her way to the kitchen to make herself a cup of coffee, but can’t seem to find the mugs.

Adora looks towards Catra for help to find her already looking in her direction, “Top left cupboard.” She points. 

Adora grabs a mug and makes her coffee the way she likes it. Black, with one sugar and one creamer. 

She goes and sits opposite of Catra at the table.

Catra raises her mug for Adora to tap hers on, which the blonde does, “Cheers.”

Adora laughs as she sips her coffee. She already feels a little better.

Comfortable silence washes over the two. 

After a few minutes, Catra speaks.

“I’m sorry.” 

Adora doesn’t hear her the first time, “What?”

Catra tries again, more confidently, “I’m sorry. For being such an asshole to you. You… didn’t deserve that.”

Adora smiles at the apology, “ It’s okay, Catra. I forgive you.”

Catra looks up from the corner of the table she was burning a hole into with her stare, “You do?”

Adora nods, "I'm glad we can actually be friends."

The brunette breathes a sigh of relief, "Me too..." After a few minutes of silence, she starts to look uncomfortable.

Adora changes the subject for her.

“I’ll be going back to my apartment today.” 

Catra doesn't look happy, like Adora expected her to be, “Are you sure? You’re more than welcome to stay, you know.”

Adora nods again, “Yeah. I don’t want to overstay my welcome. I really appreciate everything you guys have done, though.”

Catra doesn’t say anything, but Adora can see the disappointment written all over her face.

She doesn't understand why Catra would be disappointed, though.


	8. The Sword and the Flowers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adora makes a spontaneous decision.
> 
> Catra helps, in more ways than one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Sorry for the slight wait for this chapter :( I just got a new job, so I've been a little busy. 
> 
> I hope this chapter of tooth-rotting fluffiness is enough to make up for it. I also made some art for this chapter! You can see it in the end notes. It's a really rough sketch, and I'm not an amazing artist, so just keep that in mind.
> 
> Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! Comments and Kudos are greatly appreciated, and every comment brings a smile to my face :) Thank you so much for the support this fic has gotten! Writing was just meant to be a coping mechanism for me to get through quarantine, I definitely didn't plan for people to actually like my work! It makes me so happy that people are liking this fic! I mean, I hope they are.
> 
> Okay, bye bye!
> 
> Oh and there's a few mentions of self-harm scars in this, especially at the end.

\----  
**Adora**

She starts her morning off like most days since she’s become friends with Catra.

Wake up. Grab her phone. Text Catra “Good Morning!” Go wake up Bow and Glimmer. Continue texting Catra throughout her morning routine. 

It still surprises her how well her and Catra get along. They could talk for hours about nothing at all, or the most interesting subjects in the world, it doesn’t matter. Adora’s never met anyone like Catra before. 

After the whole Shadow Weaver situation, Adora waited until Bow and Glimmer got back to tell them what happened. They were beyond worried for Adora, but the blonde explained how the Horde employees helped her. Bow and Glimmer promised her that any time they go out of town together, Adora’s coming with them from now on. They also practically showered her in support, which Adora couldn’t be more grateful for. They ended the discussion with a teary-eyed Best Friend Squad hug.

Today she has work so, after her (interrupted) morning run, she gets ready and goes downstairs with Bow and Glimmer. They’re still pretty early, but they could always have a small snack before starting their shift. 

Conveniently, this is also the time that Catra and Scorpia exit their apartment and head down their stairs which are directly beside the coffee shop.

Scorpia immediately runs over and pulls Adora, Bow, and Glimmer into a tight hug, “Good morning! Oh, it’s so great to see you guys! We should really hang out mo-” Her introduction is cut off by the other three’s wheezed breaths due to being crushed in the hug. 

Scorpia lets them down with a sheepish smile and talks to Bow and Glimmer. Adora walks over to Catra, who saw that entire encounter.

Catra smirks, “Morning, dummy.” Despite the insult, her voice sounds friendly and inviting. Not at all like how she sounded when Adora first introduced herself. 

Adora chuckles, “Do you have any nicer nicknames for me?” 

“Well, it’s either that or Princess. You choose.” Catra shrugs.

“Dummy it is, then.”

They continue talking until Bow and Glimmer remind her that they have a job to get to. Adora quickly waves to Scorpia, then turns to Catra.

She can’t decide how to end their interaction, though. A wave? A high-five? A _fist bump_? Why is she thinking about this so much? She never has to think about these things with her other friends. Adora settles for giving Catra a hug. It’s definitely not a tight hug, loose enough that Catra could escape at any time.

She doesn’t, though.

Eventually, Adora pulls back and smiles at a now red-faced Catra, “Ok well, bye!” She runs over to where Bow and Glimmer are smiling at her. 

The three walk into work, with Bow and Glimmer actually not teasing Adora on the slightly awkward interaction.

Yet.

\----  
**Catra**

She’s still blushing profusely when she turns to see Scorpia looking at her with stars in her eyes and a proud smile. The look only makes Catra redden more.

“What?”

Scorpia’s holding her fists close to her chest, as if she’s looking at a newborn baby. “It’s just… you two are so cute! 

Catra huffs, “No we are not! We’re just two _regular_ and NOT cute friends.”

Scorpia crosses her arms, “I never said you weren’t friends.” 

Catra stays silent this time, so Scorpia adds, “You know, Wildcat, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you have a little crush on Adora.” Surprisingly, this is the first time Scorpia’s ever said anything about Catra and Adora’s friendship.

Catra turns around towards the shop, “No I don’t! We’re just friends, Scorpia!” Scorpia laughs as she walks in with Catra.

When the two walk in, they immediately notice how empty the store is of customers, which is the usual on a Thursday morning. Not many people plan on getting tattoos on a Thursday morning. 

Catra walks in and makes a beeline for the bulletin board with her drawings scattered on it. She already knows which one she’s picking today. The one that Adora said she liked the first time she came here. The sword. 

Ever since she and Adora reconciled, Catra felt that the drawing was missing something. After weeks of not being able to find anything that fits, she finally figured out what would make the sketch so much better.

Flowers! 

She takes off the drawing and brings it to the counter, along with a pencil and eraser. 

Last night, she searched online for flowers that she thought would match with the sword and eventually she found two flowers that are perfect. Red Camellia and Daffodils. 

She begins sketching the flowers into the sword drawing, making sure not to put too many.

\----  
Adora

After the initial morning rush of people going to get coffee before they go to work, there aren’t many customers at Brightmoon Café. Today, Mermista is at the register while the rest of the group is making the drinks. 

Mermista turns around and looks at Adora, “So… How’s it going with _Catra_?” 

Adora looks up from what she’s doing with a raised brow. The way Mermista said Catra’s name was very suspicious. 

“It’s going great, actually! I think we’re pretty good friends.” 

Everyone sighs at that, which only works to make Adora more confused. “What? What’s wrong with that?” 

Mermista responds again, “Adora, it’s so obvious that you both have feelings for each other.” At least it’s a straightforward answer.

Perfuma adds, “Yeah, Adora. There are some _serious_ vibes between you two.”

Adora’s face reddens, “What?! No way! We-I- Me and Catra?! No. Nope!” She flails her hands around as she emphasizes her complete lack of attraction towards her friend.

Glimmer crosses her arms, “What about that hug earlier today? That was way too long to be considered platonic.” 

‘ _I knew the hug was too much_ ,’ Adora thinks inwardly. 

“That was just a hug, guys! Friends can hug, right? I can assure you Catra and I are just friends.”

Everyone gives her an incredulous look, especially Bow and Glimmer, who have had to deal with seeing Adora and Catra be idiots the most.

Okay, if Adora were really being honest with herself, she’s thought about it. Sometimes, Catra and Adora will be talking and Adora will get this sudden urge to kiss her but she’d never act on it, of course. Why mess up a perfectly great friendship over some little feelings? Besides, it’s not like Catra actually feels the same way, right? Adora would know if Catra felt the same way, right?

Right?

Her thoughts are interrupted by a customer. The group doesn’t discuss Adora’s cluelessness again, which the blonde is very thankful for. 

\----  
**Catra**

She looks up at the clock beside the door. 

Seven-forty five in the afternoon. 

Apparently, Catra was so busy drawing and finishing up appointments that the entire day passed by in what felt like a second. 

She sighs as she looks down at the drawing. A smile creeps up onto her face as she looks at it. She was definitely right about there being something missing before.

Scorpia walks over to the counter, “Ooh, whatcha got there, Wildcat?” 

Normally, Catra would be hesitant to show her work to others. It feels so… personal to her. Like something she needs to keep to herself. But she really does like this piece, so she turns it over so the taller woman can see.

Scorpia gasps and takes the sheet of paper in one of her prosthetic hands. “Wow! It’s beautiful, Catra!” 

The brunette blushes, “Thanks, Scorpia.” 

Scorpia places the paper down gently and is about to speak when the front door jingles open.

They both turn to see who it is. The store is about to close and they’ve finished all their appointments, so it’s probably someone buying something else from the store. 

Instead of a customer, Adora is standing at the front door with a nervous smile. “Hey, guys.” She says this while only looking at Catra, though. 

Scorpia doesn’t seem to read the room, and immediately starts happily talking to Adora, who seems to be cheering up just from talking to Scorpia. Her happiness is almost contagious sometimes. 

Catra looks down and tries not to eavesdrop on their conversation. She looks at her drawing again, inspecting it for mistakes. 

It seems that she’s so distracted by her work that she doesn’t notice the blonde now standing in front of her. Catra looks up to see Adora’s almost glowing smile. Catra’s always loved Adora’s smile, but she’d never say anything about it. 

“Hi Catra!” 

The brunette tries to maintain some of her dignity through her nonchalance, “Hey, Adora.” 

Her smug attitude makes Adora blush slightly, for some reason. Adora suddenly looks down at the drawing before Catra has time to hide it. “You changed it,” she says matter-of-factly. 

Catra nods, “Yeah, I added some flowers behind the sword. You like it?” She slides the paper closer to Adora so she can further inspect it. 

It’s surprising how open Catra is with Adora, despite only having known her for a few months. Maybe it’s because she still feels like a shitty person for being so mean to Adora for weeks but regardless of what the reason is, Catra knows she’s never acted like this so soon after meeting someone. Then again, she’s never met anyone like Adora before. 

Adora picks up the drawing so gently that it’s almost falling out of her hands. Her eyes trail around the thin sword, the Red Camellias that make everything pop, the Yellow Daffodils that make the sword look like it’s glowing, and Catra notices her mouth opening more and more in shock as she looks at the drawing.

Catra smiles at Adora’s speechlessness.

Eventually, Adora regains the ability to speak. “Catra… This is amazing! The flowers changed everything! I mean, it already looked beautiful but you made it a million times better.” She continues babbling on about all the different little things she loves about the artwork.

Catra’s smile gets bigger and bigger the more Adora talks about her work. It’s rare that people will come in and actually tell Catra they like her drawings, usually opting to just stare and then walk away. She practically tears up from how happy the support makes her, especially coming from Adora.

Catra’s really the luckiest girl on the planet to have met someone as amazing as Adora.

Eventually, Adora looks back up at Catra and abruptly stops when she sees the brunette’s glassy eyes. She gently places the paper back down onto the counter and lifts her hands up in front of her, as if she’s waiting for Catra to allow her to touch her. “Oh no, I’m so sorry. I knew I shouldn't have said anything. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings, Catra. Oh sh-” The words keep quickly tumbling out of her mouth.

Her second rant of the day is cut off by a watery chuckle from Catra as she places her hands on Adora’s bigger ones to put them down onto the counter. She keeps her hands on top of Adora’s as she speaks.

“No, no, I’m okay, I promise. I just… Thank you. For being so nice to me. I don’t deserve it.” That last part is a meek whisper, but Adora still hears it as her brows furrow.

Adora flips her hands upwards and interlocks her fingers with Catra’s. “You do deserve kindness, Catra. You deserve all of the good things in your life, and more.”

Catra looks down at their intertwined fingers, “You really think so?”

Adora smiles, despite Catra not being able to see it, “I know so.”

Catra looks back up to Adora’s eyes. Now, both of their eyes are glistening, but neither because of sadness. They smile warmly at each other as their heads move slowly towards each other.

It would be so easy to just… 

Right before their lips can touch, Adora quickly jerks backwards with a nervous look on her face.

Catra is about to ask her why they stopped, because she _really_ wanted to see where that was leading, but is quickly interrupted by Adora’s voice.

“I want to get a tattoo!” She blurts it out so quickly that Catra barely hears it.

Catra raises a brow, “What?”

Adora repeats, stuttering a lot more this time, “I want to get a tattoo. That tattoo. I want to get that drawing as a tattoo. On me.” She points to the sword drawing.

Catra’s other eyebrow raises, too. “Really? You want to get my drawing tattooed onto yourself? Are you sure about that, Adora?”

The blonde nods eagerly, “I’m certain. I’ve loved this drawing since I first saw it, and I’ve always wanted a tattoo, anyway, so why not?”

Catra’s still a little skeptical, but goes along with it, “Okay… So where do you want to put it?” 

Adora pauses. She never thought about that. Well, to be fair, she _did_ just decide to get a tattoo a few seconds ago. Of course she doesn’t know where to put it.

It doesn’t take long for an idea to pop into Adora’s head. She’s a little anxious about the location, but she’s sure that she can handle it. Besides, this will cover most of the evidence of her… past.

She points to the inner forearm of her left arm.

Catra looks down and frowns, already seeing the issue, “Are you sure you want the tattoo… there? It’ll hurt a lot more.”

Adora frowns with her. The one thing she hates the most is people treating her like she’ll shatter at any second, and she hoped that Catra wouldn’t treat her like that. Seems she was wrong.

Catra senses her discomfort with the subject and smiles sheepishly, “Okay, okay, I’ll do it. But it’s gonna hurt like a bitch, I hope you know that.” 

Adora giddily jumps up and down in excitement, “I know, it’s going to look SO great, though!” 

Catra’s previously sheepish smile turns warm at Adora’s excitement to have Catra’s artwork permanently etched into her skin. She can already feel the sweat on her hands from just thinking about that. ‘ _It’s just one tattoo_ ,’ Catra tells herself inwardly, ‘ _I can do one tattoo._ ”

Adora runs over to a black leather chair and sits down, still practically vibrating with pure joy. 

Catra grabs her equipment and sits down in the smaller seat next to Adora as the blonde takes off her winter coat and pulls her hoodie sleeve up to reveal her scarred forearm. Before she begins covering up the raised lines with ink, Catra gently runs her hand across them as if she’s wordlessly apologizing for the pain that she’s about to inflict.

She pulls out the equipment, and the colours she’ll need, and gets to work.

As Catra expected, Adora winces throughout the entire process. It’s a lot less than she expected but, then again, Catra does have a tendency to underestimate Adora.

Catra makes sure to apologize quietly every time Adora winces especially loud, but the blonde always tells her that it’s okay. 

\----  
**Adora**

Okay, she’ll admit that getting this tattoo is hurting a lot more than she thought it would. She’s seen people get tattoos that are the same size as Adora’s, and they didn’t wince nearly as much as she is. 

Catra keeps apologizing for hurting her, but that only works to make Adora more frustrated at herself for acting weak enough that people notice.

After Catra pricks an especially sensitive spot on her arm and Adora winces loudly, the blonde huffs angrily.

Catra immediately looks up at Adora, worried. Adora’s face immediately softens, “Sorry. I’m just frustrated that I’m being so loud. It’s not even that big of a tattoo, I don’t know why I’m being such a baby.”

Catra smiles, “Adora, I’m pricking fifteen tiny needles into skin that’s already been damaged a lot. It’s obviously going to hurt more than a tattoo on normal skin would. And trust me, you’re not being loud. I’ve had people scream when I came within 1 meter of them with the needle gun.” They both laugh at that, with Adora sounding relieved.

Adora nods once they’ve stopped laughing, “Okay. You can keep going, by the way.” 

Catra continues her work. It’s almost done at this point, just some more colouring and a few touch-ups. “Don’t think that just because we’re friends, you’ll get a discount on this. I’m expecting full payment for this appointment.” 

The word ‘friends’ leaves a pit in Adora’s stomach.

Despite that, Adora chuckles, “Of course I’ll pay full price for this, Catra. It's a masterpiece.”

Catra blushes slightly at the praise and brings her head down a little further so that Adora doesn’t see. ‘Too late,’ Adora thinks with a grin.

They keep chatting, with Catra checking up on Adora throughout the process, until the tattoo is complete. After the work is done, Catra applies a little ointment into the fresh tattoo, then wraps the tattoo in a plastic wrap. The entire time while Catra was gently rubbing the ointment onto her arm, Adora’s face was beet red, but she managed to get the blush under control before Catra looked back up at her.

That extremely embarrassing fact would go with her to the grave. 

Once Catra wraps the tattoo, she looks back up at Adora with a grin, “All done.” 

Adora looks down at the plastic wrap covering half her arm. Through the clear wrap, she can clearly see the vibrant reds and yellows of the Red Camellias and the Daffodils, the lighter gold and silver of the sword that looks like it’s almost glowing, and just how breathtaking the entire piece looks. 

The tattoo looks so amazing that Adora can hardly even notice the raised scars that overlap the skin there. You'd have to look really carefully to notice them.

Every time she looked at her forearms before, there was always that constant reminder of her weaknesses facing her. Judging her. Now, though, all that’s there is Catra. 

Catra, one of the first people to not treat her like she could shatter at any moment.

Catra, who helped show her that maybe she doesn’t need to hide her scars to be strong. That maybe by showing these scars, she _is_ being strong. 

Catra, who’s trying to be a kind and gentle and good person despite her past of being cruel to others.

She feels tears prick her eyes but keeps her head bowed down so Catra can’t see. She’s cried in front of Catra enough.

Adora hears her giggle at her shock. She loves Catra’s laugh, and she wants to hear it as much as she can. 

The brunette’s giggles come to a halt when Adora still doesn’t lift her head, “Hey, you okay?”

Adora sniffles, and Catra’s smile quickly turns into a very concerned frown, “Adora…” The tattoo artist places her hands on either side of Adora’s upper arms and slowly rubs up and down to coax the blonde into looking up at her.

Adora shakily lifts her head to give Catra a teary smile, “ Thank you.”

Catra smiles back, but her eyebrows are still slightly furrowed. Instead of responding, Catra pulls Adora into a soft hug. 

Adora reciprocates by hugging her tightly and hiding her face in the crook of her neck and shoulder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's all about that flower symbolism, baby! Anyways I might have added some angst into this chapter for a little spice, yknow? Who doesn't love a little yearning and angst? 
> 
> Here's a rough sketch of what the tattoo looks like, on lined paper because I couldn't find any good paper to use. Enjoy! I really hope that picture works, I have no idea what I'm doing haha. 
> 
> [](https://imgbb.com/)
> 
> Have a great day :) I'll try and update as soon as I can!


	9. For Whatever It's Worth, I Love You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adora takes a few chances and allows herself to be vulnerable just this once. 
> 
> She also goes ice skating for the first time. 
> 
> It doesn't go very well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I know it's been a little while since I've posted, so here's a 6k chapter to make up for it! I hope you enjoy this, because I absolutely love this chapter. 
> 
> I noticed that I kind of sideline all the characters besides Catra and Adora, so this chapter has some ships besides Catradora in it. Sorry about forgetting all of the other ships!
> 
> Anyway, this chapter has everything! Angst, tooth-rotting fluff, hurt/comfort, hurt/no comfort, a sunset, and a whole bunch of lesbians.
> 
> I hope you enjoy! If you do like this, you can leave a comment and a kudo. I am eternally grateful for all of the support this mediocre fic has gotten, and I would always appreciate some more :)
> 
> The chapter title is from Cruel Summer by Taylor Swift.
> 
> Ok, bye-bye!
> 
> TW: Panic attacks, mild blood, implied self-harm

\----  
**Adora**

She looks down at the fresh tattoo on her arm, still wrapped in plastic, as she walks up the steps to her apartment. She’s had a smile plastered to her face since she left the tattoo shop, and it doesn’t seem that it’ll leave any time soon. 

Adora unlocks the door and slowly steps in. It is pretty late, after all. 

The last thing she expects to see when she steps into her apartment is Glimmer and Bow standing directly in front of her with panicked looks in their eyes as they glance between the plastic-wrapped on her forearm and her face.

Adora raises a brow at their panic, “What’s… up, guys?” Her voice gets smaller and smaller the more she speaks. 

Glimmer speaks first, “We were worried sick! We had movie night planned for tonight, but you never showed up. You weren’t answering your phone, either, and we thought something bad happened to you.” She quickly glances at Adora’s forearm with a worried look on her face.

Adora realizes what Glimmer’s implying almost immediately, and her first instinct is to get angry. This is why she didn’t want anyone to know about her past here. Why she wanted a fresh start in the first place. To get away from the pitying looks she would get whenever people would see her wandering the streets of the Crimson Waste, or whenever they would see her arms. 

She hoped this time would be different.

That mindset is quickly replaced by guilt, along with gratitude. Glimmer and Bow are just looking out for her. They just want to make sure she’s okay. The looks on their faces aren’t pity, they’re worried for her safety. She shouldn’t be so ungrateful to her best friends. They’ve only been kind to her, and it’s not fair for Adora to blame them for caring.

Adora sighs, “I’m fine, Glimmer. I hung out with Catra for a bit. I must’ve muted my phone or something, but nothing bad happened, don’t worry. And this is a tattoo! Do you like it?” 

Glimmer and Bow’s anxious looks are swiftly replaced with confusion.

“A what?”

Adora’s giddy smile returns, “A tattoo. Catra did it for me! It’s one of her drawings, see?” She sticks her forearm out for the two of them to see. Despite being wrapped, the artwork is still visible to anyone who looks.

Glimmer and Bow inspect the work diligently, looking for what, Adora has no idea. Their distressed faces slowly soften into smiles as they look at all of the precise details that Catra put into the drawing, despite the ridged skin she was working on. It’s obvious the tattoo was made with all the care in the world. 

Bow is the first to look up this time, “Adora… It’s beautiful. What inspired you to get it so suddenly?”

“Oh, I saw this drawing the first time I met Catra, and I’ve always liked it. Catra added the flowers today, and I liked it so much that I decided to get it as a tattoo.”

She makes sure to not include the part where they almost kissed. She would definitely be keeping that to herself. 

Glimmer raises her head up, a skeptical look in her eyes, “The first time you met Catra? You mean, the time when she was a total bitch to you?” 

Bow scolds the purple-haired girl with a quiet, but squeaky “Glimmer!” 

Adora rubs her hand on the back of her neck, “Yeah, but she’s been really nice to me in the past few months. I think she’s really changed.” 

Glimmer’s still skeptical of this, and she’s definitely being vocal about it. “I don’t know, Adora. We’ve all tried being Catra’s friend before, but she’s never been anything but rude to us. Why is she acting so differently to you? It’s a little suspicious if you ask me. I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

Adora bites her tongue to avoid retorting with a snarky remark, instead opting to cross her arms tightly. She immediately regrets the decision when her freshly tattooed skin stings, but she doesn’t relent. 

Despite her annoyance at Glimmer’s harsh words, Adora can’t find the strength to be angry at her shorter friend. She just wants what’s best for Adora, and for her to not get hurt. 

“It’s fine, Glimmer. I’ll tell you if Catra ever tries to pull anything on me, okay?” Her words are a little more sarcastic than she was expecting, but her voice is gentle. 

Glimmer sighs, relenting quickly, “Fine, but just know we’re always here for you if you want to talk, okay?”

Adora smiles, “Yeah, I know. Thanks, you guys. I couldn’t ask for better best friends.” 

Bow squeals, “Best Friend Squad hug!” He pulls the two girls into a tight hug, all of them laughing and almost falling onto the floor.

As they get back up and move onto the couch for the later-than-planned movie night, Adora remembers something Mermista said yesterday at work.

Adora looks over to her two friends, who are fighting over one spot on the couch. “Hey, guys?” 

The two stop and look over at the blonde. They don’t say anything, just give Adora their undivided attention and wait for her to continue.

“Don’t we have that get-together thing with everyone in a few days?”

Glimmer immediately perks up at that. She looks like she’s practically shimmering with excitement. “Yeah! It’s gonna be so fun! It’s not as fancy as Princess Prom, it’s more to just talk to our friends and hang out. We’re going to the ice rink downtown.”

Adora nods, going through the information given to her in her head. She pauses when she realizes what her purple-haired friend just said.

“Wait, there’s an ice rink here?” 

Bow answers this time, “Yeah! They open once a year and it’s the best!” 

Adora raises a brow, “Aren’t ice rinks usually open all year round? Since they're, you know, inside and all?” 

“Yeah, that’s because the ice rink is outdoors! It’s too hot in the summer to keep it open, so they only open it when it’s below thirty-two degrees Fahrenheit.” 

Adora’s never heard of an outdoor ice rink before. Then again, the Crimson Waste isn’t exactly known for its freezing temperatures. Despite only being a few hours south of Brightmoon, it almost felt like a desert there because of how hot it was in the summers. Adora’s grateful that she was homeless there and not in Brightmoon since heatstroke sounds easier than hypothermia.

Glimmer adds, “Have you ever skated before, Adora?”

The blonde fidgets with her fingers, “...No. Is it hard?” 

The shorter girl almost seems happier than Adora doesn’t know how to skate, “No! Not at all. Oh, I can help you find your skate size! And I could teach you! Not to brag or anything, but I’d say I’m a pretty good skater.” 

Bow gives her an incredulous look, “Glimmer, you fall every two minutes.”

Glimmer huffs, “No, I don’t! You’ll see, when we get there I’ll be a skating pro.” 

Adora and Bow laugh at Glimmer’s overconfidence and, after being grumpy for a few more seconds, Glimmer laughs with them. 

Eventually, they actually watch the movie they picked out for today. Something called ‘Booksmart’ if Adora remembers correctly. 

Bow starts the movie, and they all get comfortable in their spots, with Adora on the big couch with Glimmer while Bow sits on the single couch on the side of the living room closer to Glimmer.

While they watch the movie and add their commentary, Adora can’t help but raise a skeptical eye at her two friends. 

They’re being a lot more… flirty than usual. And that’s saying a lot, considering how Glimmer always acts with Bow. Adora doesn’t say anything about it, hoping that her friends would tell her if anything ever happened between them.

\----  
**Catra**

She puts all her materials back into their intended spots after Adora leaves before heading upstairs. She’s smiling the entire time but tries to stifle it when she walks into her apartment. Don’t want Scorpia getting suspicious and bombarding her with personal questions.

Despite her best efforts to hold in her bursting joy, a small smile still creeps onto her face as she takes off her shoes. 

She’s so busy taking off her shoes and going over what just happened downstairs that she doesn’t notice that Scorpia and Entrapta have been sitting in the living room the entire time, watching her with puzzled looks. 

Scorpia breaks the silence, making sure to stay quiet to not scare Catra off, “Hey, Wildcat.”

Catra still jumps, even with Scorpia’s hushed voice. The brunette looks up, panicked, “What are you guys doing here? I thought you’d be asleep by now.”

Entrapta chimes in, “Well, we live here, so we would most likely always be here during this time. It is a little odd for you to come in so late, though. Fascinating… ” She stands up, recorder in hand, and walks to her room. Muffled talking can be heard from her room as she talks into the box.

Scorpia looks up at Catra with a knowing smile.

Catra blushes and crosses her arms, “What?” 

“Where have _you_ been the past few hours?” Her tone isn’t accusatory, or curious. More teasing, if anything. Like an older sister making fun of her younger sibling for having a crush.

“I- Me- Nowhere! I was just in the shop.” Catra walks over and plops down onto the couch, sitting beside Scorpia. 

Scorpia turns to look at her, “You were in the shop hours after it’s closed? Seems a little suspicious to me. Were you with anyone?” Again, her tone is more teasing than anything else. 

That makes Catra blush more as she buries her face into a pillow. 

Scorpia gasps, “So you WERE with someone! Who was it! Wait, let me guess-” 

Catra interjects before Scorpia can finish, “Don’t guess!” 

Scorpia proceeds to guess, “Was it… Adora?” 

Catra didn’t think it was possible for her to blush more than she already is, but her face manages to do just that. 

The taller girl wraps her prosthetic arms around Catra, “Aww, that’s so cute!! Was it a date? Was it romantic? What did you guys do? Did you have fun? Wer-” 

Catra scrambles out of Scorpia’s arms with an embarrassed look, “It wasn’t a date! We just… talked.” 

Scorpia raises a brow, “Talked? For the past few hours? That’s it?” 

Catra nods, but it’s an obvious lie. “Yup.” She pops the ‘p’ sound. 

Scorpia continues to look at her. Catra fidgets with her fingers in her lap.

“Okay, and maybe IalsotattooedAdora’sarm.” She says that last part so quickly but Scorpia still hears it. 

Scorpia gasps again, much more dramatic than before. “You what?! Oh, that’s so sweet, Catra! Did you guys both get matching tattoos?”

Catra crosses her arms again, “No! I just tattooed one of my drawings on her arm. It’s not a big deal.” 

Scorpia’s eyes look like they’re about to pop out of her head, “So you’re telling me that Adora got a tattoo from you of a drawing you made, and you _still_ think she doesn’t have feelings for you? That’s one of the most romantic things I’ve ever heard anyone do.” 

Catra’s blush makes a return, “Are you ridiculous?! It’s just a little drawing, and it was just a coincidence that I did it. And besides, friends can give each other tattoos! That’s a _completely_ normal thing friends do.” 

“Uh… I’m not so sure about that, Catra.”

“It is!”

Scorpia decides to spare Catra. For now. She sighs, “If you say so, Wildcat.” She changes the subject, “So, are you going to that get-together in a few days?” 

Catra leans back on the couch, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, ok. Well, a group of people who work along this street are going to the ice rink downtown. Do you want to come?” 

Catra glances over at the white-haired girl, “Do I want to hang out with a bunch of lame princesses? I’ll pass, thanks.”

Scorpia sighs, “Oh come on, Catra. The people here are great! I’m sure if you got to know them, you would have fun. And besides, since you work on this street you’re technically a princess, too.”

Catra’s eyes widen as Scorpia giggles, “Never say something that scary.” She points an accusatory finger at a still laughing Scorpia.

Catra actually considers going, but she wants to make sure a specific person will be going before she agrees.

“Is… Is Adora going?” Catra looks down at the floor.

Scorpia smiles warmly at the brunette, “Yes, Adora is going.” 

Catra nods, but it’s more to amp herself up for seeing Adora again than anything else. “Okay, then I’ll go.” 

Scorpia cheers, and Catra laughs before the taller girl pulls her into a tight hug. “This is going to be so much fun! You’ll love everyone there, they’re so great! Oh, and you’ll get to meet Perfuma!”

Catra pauses. Why did Scorpia single out one of the people? She pushes herself back to look Scorpia in the eyes, “Who’s Perfuma?” 

Scorpia blushes, “Oh geez, I never told you? Well, Perfuma’s my girlfriend!” 

Catra’s eyes widen at that, “You have a girlfriend?! And you never told me?” Her voice is quieter in the last sentence. The idea that Scorpia doesn’t trust Catra hurts more than she thought it would.

Scorpia seems to sense why Catra’s upset. “It’s not because I don’t trust you! I do trust you, very much. But we started dating right after Princess Prom and I thought it would be mean for me to brag while you had a black eye.” 

So while Catra was being sucker-punched in a drenched banquet hall, Scorpia was making out with Perfuma. Great.

Despite that, Catra really was happy for Scorpia. It’s about time someone realized how great her friend is.

“It’s okay, Scorpia. You didn’t have to hide it from me, though, you big doof.” She light-heartedly punches Scorpia in the shoulder.

Scorpia chuckles, “Okay, sorry.” 

“It’s fine, dude. Just don’t hide things like that from me, okay? I do actually want to know what’s going on in your life, believe it or not.”

A warm smile appears again on Scorpia’s face, “Only if you don’t hide anything from me, either.” 

Catra reciprocates the taller girl's smile with one of her own, “Okay, I pinky promise.” 

The brunette holds out her pinky. Scorpia wraps her much larger one around Catra’s and they shake their joined hands in agreement, before bursting into a fit of giggles.

\----  
**Adora, Four Days Later**

She stares at herself in the mirror. They have half an hour left before they have to leave for the ice rink. 

Adora’s already wearing her outfit. A thick sweater with a pair of grey leggings and winter boots. There’s something missing, though… 

She continues staring with a puzzled look until it hits her. She pulls her sleeves up to her forearms and admires the now unwrapped tattoo on her left forearm. The colours on it are vibrant, but not overwhelmingly bright, and the lines are precise and detailed. She looks up at the mirror again.

Her outfit finally looks complete. All she needed was that little hint of Catra.

Adora frowns when she notices that the few scars on her right forearm will also be visible. While the majority are on her left arm, she did decide to switch it up some days and go for her right arm. As she’s looking at her arm with a disappointed look, she remembers what Catra said when she first saw them. 

“You don’t have to be ashamed of these.”

Upon remembering the words, her confidence flies up and she decides to leave her forearms showing. It’s still scary, though. This is the first time anyone here other than Catra and Huntara will see them for the first time. What if they judge her? Or think she’s crazy, or something?

She tries to block out those thoughts. Adora sighs and looks up into her reflection’s eyes, “You can do this.” It’s a hushed whisper so that Bow and Glimmer don’t hear her talking to herself.

With that, she grabs her phone and leaves her room. 

Upon entering the living room, she sees Bow and Glimmer already done and lounging on the couches. Adora must’ve spent more time figuring out her outfit than she thought.

Glimmer looks up at her, “Hey, Adora. Cute outfit!” 

Adora stands awkwardly in front of them. She completely forgot that Bow and Glimmer never knew about the scars, so this will be the first time they find out, too. Adora was always too scared to tell them, even though she knew they would only respond with unconditional love. “Hi, guys.” Her arms are stick straight beside her, making her look like a soldier on duty.

Bow seems to notice her behaviour and frowns in concern as he scans her body for anything wrong. “Are you okay?”

Adora nods, but it’s stiff and the other two definitely notice. “Yeah, I’m just… I’m nervous.”

“Why? Do you not want to go? We can resched-” Glimmer trails off quietly as she notices the angry scars that lie on the inside of Adora’s forearms. Bow follows her line of vision. They both have sad looks on their faces as they look at the marks. The two were so busy gawking at Adora’ tattoo earlier that they didn’t even notice the lines that are scattered across her forearms. The silence is deafening for Adora.

“I’m sorry. Should I… cover them?” Her voice is small, but Bow and Glimmer still hear because of how quiet it is. She sounds so… child-like. 

Suddenly, Bow and Glimmer look up at her with panicked faces. They both stand up and envelop Adora in a hug. It’s much looser than usual, to allow Adora the opportunity to get out.

Glimmer is the first to speak, “No, Adora. You don’t need to cover them, not ever. You’re our best friend, and we don’t think any less of you, you got that?” 

Adora smiles brightly and hugs them tighter, “Thank you. So much. You’re both so amazing, and I love you guys.” 

Bow responds this time, “We love you too, Adora.” 

They stay like that until Adora finds enough courage to go. She separates from the group hug, and the other two look at her questioningly. 

“So, what do you guys say we go skating now?”

Glimmer’s excitement for the day returns, “Yay! Ice skating!” 

They grab their winter coats but don’t bring any skates with them. They’ll just rent when they get there. The three depart from their apartment laughing and smiling. 

\----  
**Catra**

She and Scorpia sit on the edge of the ice rink while they wait for everyone to show up. Scorpia insisted on coming fifteen minutes earlier than planned so that Catra could meet Perfuma one-on-one before everyone shows up and they’re all swept up in conversations.

Soon enough, Catra sees a tall, tan woman with light blonde hair and a flower crown in her hair walking in their direction with a bright smile on her face. ‘She’s definitely Scorpia’s type,’ Catra thinks inwardly with a small grin.

The happy blonde comes up in front of them as Catra and Scorpia stand to greet her. 

“Hi, Scorpia,” she giggles. Scorpia tries to stifle her smile and fails miserably. The entire interaction is so cute that Catra struggles to contain her groan of disgust. At least her friend is happy, right?

Perfuma turns to the shorter brunette, “Hello, Catra! It’s so nice to meet you. Scorpia’s told me a lot about you.” 

That makes Catra a little nervous. Scorpia is the absolute worst at keeping secrets. “All good stuff, I hope.” 

Perfuma chuckles, “Yes, of course! Ooh, where’s Adora?” 

Catra feels her face burn up slightly as she turns to glare at Scorpia with a face that reads ‘Are you kidding me?’ At least Scorpia has the decency to look guilty as she shrugs back. 

Perfuma sees Catra’s embarrassed look and backtracks slightly, “Oh, don’t worry! I won’t say anything to her if that’s what you’re worried about.” Catra wasn't, but she definitely is now. Perfuma continues, “If you want, I could lead you through guided meditation. It really works wonders, you know!” 

“Uhmm…” Catra takes a slight step back. She doesn’t want to flat-out say no, but she also would rather watch paint dry than meditate. She’s saved from answering by the others arriving. Catra sighs in relief and turns to the loud group coming towards them. She immediately starts looking for a specific blonde. 

Her eyes skim over the coffee shop employees, the Horde employees, the older couple that owns the flower shop, and the younger girl that works at the ice cream shop.

Her heart flutters once her mismatched eyes land on her. She’s wearing a thick sweater with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows, her tattoo out for everyone to see. Catra’s face reddens significantly, from Adora’s muscular arms and also the fact that Adora wants everyone to see Catra’s work and would sacrifice staying warm in the cold of Brightmoon in February to do that.

Catra is so focused on Adora that she doesn’t notice that everyone else can see her blushing very brightly at Adora. The blonde in question is completely oblivious to all of this, of course.

Adora is the first to speak, “So, where do we get our rentals?”

Thankfully, the rest of them don’t mention what they just saw and the group goes to get their skates. They all grab their sizes and head to sit down on a bench.

Catra glances over at Adora while everyone is lacing up their skates to see her struggling to tie them up. She’s getting more and more frustrated when she can’t figure it out. The brunette snickers quietly at her struggling.

She stands up and, while wobbling on her skates, walks over to kneel in front of Adora. The blonde’s face reddens, or maybe it was always like that from the cold. Regardless, Catra thinks she looks absolutely ethereal. The sun is hitting her face and making it look like there’s a halo around her blonde hair, despite how cold it is. Her nose and cheeks are slightly red, and her eyes are so blue in the light they look like they’re almost glowing.

“Relax, dummy. I’m just lacing up your skates.” 

Adora sighs at that and chuckles, “Thanks. I’ve never ice skated before.” 

Catra raises a brow at that, “Really? And you decided to try it out for the first time in front of all your friends? Are you _trying_ to embarrass the shit out of yourself?”

Adora’s eyes widen and she looks forward as Catra cackles. “I… I never thought about that.” 

Catra’s laughing stops when she notices that Adora actually looks nervous. After finishing tying the skates, she puts a hand on her knee, and the blonde turns her anxious gaze back down to her. “Hey, don’t worry. I’ll teach you, okay? It’ll be fun, and I’ll make sure nobody makes fun of you if you fall. Only I get that privilege, you got that, Princess?”

Adora laughs loudly with Catra, snorting throughout the laugh. It’s one of the best sounds Catra’s ever heard. Some of the other skaters look over to them with judging eyes, but neither of them cares. The brunette can definitely see Scorpia and some of the other people with her looking at Catra and Adora with pure heart eyes, but she ignores it. 

She puts all her focus into Adora, who has stopped laughing and is now smiling at Catra with that one specific smile that she’s only seen Adora do to her.

“Thank you, Catra. I really appreciate that.”

Catra smiles back, “Of course. Now, what do you say we go and practice some ice skating, huh?” 

\----  
**Adora**

Catra stands and outstretches a hand for Adora, which she takes gratefully. Adora must not have realized how unstable she would be on skates, because she starts leaning backwards and almost falls flat on her butt. Almost, because Catra catches her before she can. 

They stay like that for a few seconds, Adora leaned back and Catra leaning forward with a hand on the small of Adora’s back. Eventually, Catra blinks back and stands up fully, bringing Adora up with her. Thankfully, everyone else is already on the ice so they didn’t see that. 

The two slowly walk over to the short wooden wall that surrounds the ice. Catra gets on first and skates in a small circle. 

Adora stands on wobbly feet in awe at how easy Catra makes ice skating look. “Where did you learn to skate like that?!” 

Catra turns around to look at her, “Oh, I took ice skating lessons as a kid. I’m surprised I still remember anything from them.” 

Despite how long it’s been since Catra’s ice skated, she is still a million times more elegant than Adora could ever be. The blonde continues to stare at Catra while she skates in a few loops with her jaw hanging open. 

Catra glances over to Adora and, upon seeing the look on her face, giggles. She glides over to where Adora is still standing and extends a hand out for her. “You coming?” 

Adora looks down at Catra’s hand then back up into her eyes with a bright grin. She grips Catra’s hand tightly as she places one of her skates onto the ice. She immediately begins wobbling, so Catra grabs her other hand to stabilize her. Once Adora’s stopped moving, she places her other skate onto the ice. Her grip on Catra’s hands tightens as she struggles to not fall. Catra laughs at Adora’s panicked face as she wobbles endlessly on the ice.

Eventually, Adora manages to stand up straight without moving at all. “Catra, look! I’m doing it! I’m skating!” 

Catra laughs louder at that, and Adora’s smile widens. Her face turns slightly red when she realizes she’s still holding Catra’s hands as they look into each other’s eyes.

Catra’s blushing slightly, too. “No, you’re not. You’re standing on skates. Come on, let’s go and _actually_ skate!” 

The brunette skates backwards and leads a still blushing Adora across the rink. Catra is moving with ease while Adora is struggling to move in a line without slipping. They slowly get into a nice rhythm, with Catra pulling Adora across the ice. At some point, Adora starts pushing herself forward, too. 

With Catra going backwards as she skates, she doesn’t notice that the two are gliding straight into the wall. Adora notices fairly quickly, though. She tries to warn Catra, but it’s too late, “Catra, watch out-” 

The two bump into the wall hard and fall onto the ice, sitting beside each other on the floor. At first, they sit there in shock of what just happened. Then, they both burst into fits of laughter. They’re laughing so loud that they catch the attention of one of their friends, who comes to their rescue. 

Perfuma glides over to the two laughing girls on the floor. “Do you two need any help?”

Catra looks up at her with a defeated nod. Adora stays silent but has a smile on her face as she tries to stifle her laugh.

Perfuma helps Catra up first, and then Adora. While Perfuma is helping the blonde stand up, she catches a glimpse of the tattoo on her forearm. After she’s stood up, Perfuma flips over Adora’s arm gently and gasps when she sees the work on her arm, “Wow, it’s beautiful. Who made this?” 

Catra smiles at the indirect compliment, “I did.” 

Perfuma looks down at the flowers, then smiles brightly with a small giggle. It’s obvious she knows something that the other two don’t. Perfuma turns back to Catra, “Well, you did an amazing job. The tattoo suits Adora perfectly. Catra smiles back at her and is about to respond when she hears Scorpia call her from across the rink. She turns to her tall friend, “I’ll be right back.” She quickly glides away from Perfuma and Adora.

Perfuma turns towards Adora with a knowing look, “So, Adora. Do you know what kind of flowers those are?” Despite not working in the flower shop with Spinnerella and Netossa, Perfuma knows a lot about flowers.

Adora looks down at the ink on her arm with a frown as she tries to think. She doesn’t remember Catra ever mentioning what type of flowers she tattooed on her arm. “Uh… I don’t know. What are they?” 

“They’re Red Camellias and Yellow Daffodils.”

Well, that was anticlimactic. Adora is still confused about why Perfuma still has that smile on her face. Perfuma continues, despite Adora’s confusion, “Do you know what those flowers symbolize?”

Adora shakes her head.

Perfuma’s smile softens more, “Love and new beginnings.” 

Adora’s eyes widened at that. Catra tattooed flowers that symbolize love on her arm? Why would she do that? Does that mean that she could possible have feeli-

Perfuma gently places her hands on each of Adora’s shoulders to stop her from spiralling further into her thoughts. “Adora? Are you alright?” 

Adora looks up at Perfuma, “It’s probably just a coincidence, right?” She’s whispering, but Perfuma still hears her. The taller blonde smiles down at her.

“I don’t know, Adora. I’ve seen the way that girl looks at you. Maybe she has feelings for you, too.” 

Adora shakes her head. There’s no way Catra could actually have feelings for Adora. There’s no way she could reciprocate the feelings that Adora has for her. She won’t get her hopes up just to have it all taken away. She can't. Not again.

Perfuma slowly moves her hands up and down Adora’s arms to ground her. It works surprisingly well. “It’s hard, keeping your heart open. It makes you vulnerable, but it doesn’t make you weak and… I have to believe it's worth it.”

Adora notices just then how much she’s shaking as she looks down at the ice, “Do you really think so? That being vulnerable is worth it?”

Perfuma pulls Adora into a loose hug, “Yes, I do.”

Adora doesn’t know if she believes her, but she wants to try to be vulnerable again. One last time. Just to see if it really is worth it. 

\----  
**Adora, a few hours later**

Most of the people who came for today’s get together have already gone back home. The sun is setting, and everyone is tired from skating and talking for hours. The only people still here are Bow, Glimmer, Adora, Catra, and Scorpia. 

Now that Adora’s gotten better at skating, she and Catra race each other around the rink. They’re shoving each other and going way too fast for a tiny rink at dusk. Bow, Glimmer, and Scorpia glide haphazardly in circles in the center of the rink, talking calmly and avoiding their two extremely competitive friends. 

Adora’s about to catch up with Catra, who’s a couple of feet away from her. She’s almost there when Catra turns back to look at her. 

The orange sunset in the distance glows behind her and makes Catra look like she’s a glowing angel as she smiles brightly. Her hair is whipping in the wind as the setting sun casts sharp shadows into her curls. Her eyes are shining brightly in the sunshine, especially her yellow eye, which looks more like an orange in this lighting. Her high-pitched laugh bounces into Adora’s ears and straight to her heart. How did she get so lucky to meet someone like Catra?

At that moment, Adora knows she’ll never love anyone as much as she loves the girl in front of her. She doesn’t know whether to be terrified about that or filled with joy, but she’s a little bit of both right now. 

She’s so busy gawking at the brunette that she forgets that she’s still ice skating. Adora bends forward a little too far in an effort to balance herself and manages to flip hard onto her face, effectively having just face-planted into ice. She hears the sliding sound of Catra’s skates on the ice stop as she turns and starts cackling loudly at Adora’s accident. The blonde flushes in embarrassment. 

Catra skates over towards Adora, still laughing, “You okay there, princess?” 

Adora lifts her head up to look at Catra, who’s laughing quickly dies out as she looks at Adora’s forehead. She hisses a little at the sight of blood dripping down her face.

The blonde raises a hand up to her head and feels the warm liquid slowly rolling down her face. “Whoops.” She gives a sheepish smile.

Catra shoves her shoulder lightly as she giggles, “You’re such an idiot.” She stands up and helps Adora up. 

Once Adora is up, Glimmer, Bow, and Scorpia quickly skate over with worried looks on their faces. They must have seen the cut already. Glimmer places a hand near to the cut, “What happened? Are you okay? Do you have a concussion? Are you dizzy right n-” 

Adora cuts off her flurry of questions as she takes the shorter girl’s hand off her face, “I’m fine, Glimmer. I just slipped and hit my head a little. I’m not dizzy, and I don’t have a concussion, okay?”

Glimmer sighs in relief, then sends a hard glare in Catra’s direction. She’s about to go on a rant about how this is all Catra’s fault when Adora interrupts, “Okay! Well, I have to go clean this cut up. Catra, wanna come with me?” The brunette sends her a look that says ‘Thanks for the save’ as the two quickly glide away from the seething purple-haired girl. Adora can faintly hear Bow and Scorpia try to calm Glimmer down.

Catra and Adora get off the rink and, after changing back into regular shoes, walk towards a washroom nearby in almost complete silence, ‘almost’ being the keyword here.

“So, are you really okay? That looked like a hard hit.” 

Adora grins at her, but the smile falters when she sees Catra’s concerned face. She was planning on a snarky remark, but she decides to save that for another day. “Yeah, I’m okay.” 

Catra nods and they continue the walk to the washroom.

Once they make it to the washroom, Catra takes some toilet paper and, after adding some water to it, uses it to wipe the blood off Adora’s face. Catra’s focused on Adora’s forehead, so Adora takes this as an opportunity to look at the brunette who's close to her face. 

Her cheeks and nose are slightly red from being out in the February cold all day, but the fluorescent lights give her skin cooler undertones. Her eyes are still vibrant as always, but now the blue one is brighter than the yellow one. Adora loves Catra’s eyes.

Catra drops her gaze from Adora’s forehead to her eyes, “ I can feel you staring at me.” Her tone is teasing as she smirks, but her cheeks redden as she smiles.

Adora smiles sheepishly as she blurts out, “Sorry, you’re just so pretty.” Her eyes widened at what she just said. Adora blames it on her head injury, but she knows better.

Catra’s blushes more and rubs the back of her neck, “Thanks.” Her voice is quieter than before. She looks down, “I’m done with your cut, by the way.” 

Adora turns to look at herself in the mirror and, sure enough, her face is completely clean of any blood and the cut isn’t bleeding as much anymore. It’ll probably turn into a scab soon as the blood dries. 

The blonde turns back to Catra, “Thank you, Catra. You’re really nice, you know that?” Adora would definitely regret saying everything that’s going through her head later. 

Catra frowns and stares a hole into the ground, “Do you really think that?” She sounds genuinely curious, which breaks Adora’s heart. She wonders who told Catra that she’s anything other than the kindest, strongest, most beautiful person in the Universe, and why Catra believes them.

The level of confidence Adora has right now could only be explained by hitting her head on the ice. She places both her hands on either side of Catra’s face to get her to make eye contact with her. Once Catra lifts her head up again, Adora smiles at her, “Of course I do.” Adora rubs her thumbs gently on Catra's cheeks.

Catra leans into the embrace as she places a hand on top of one of Adora’s. She smiles softly at the blonde as her eyes glisten. 

Adora decides to take a chance. She leans forward as her eyes flicker down to Catra’s lips and back up to her eyes with a questioning look. Catra nods wordlessly and they both move forward until their lips touch.

It’s not the longest kiss either of them has ever had, or the most passionate, but they both know it’s the best they've ever experienced.

Catra is the first to pull away, with a hand on Adora's chest and a conflicted look on her face. Her brows furrow and her mouth keeps opening and closing again, as if she can’t find her words.

Adora places her hand on top of Catra’s on her chest, but Catra pulls her hand away and takes a step back. Adora has a sinking feeling in her stomach that she knows where this is going. She begs whatever deities are listening that this doesn’t end the way Adora thinks it will. The way that countless friendships have ended for Adora. Where the other person will leave just when Adora thinks they’ll actually stay.

Catra looks up at Adora wearily, “I don’t… I can’t. No- you...” The brunette continues to stutter endlessly, but Adora connects the dots in her head.

I don’t want you.

I can’t care about you. 

You ruined everything.

Adora can feel tears prick her eyes as her vision clouds and she takes a step back. Her heartbeat pounds in her chest and she can faintly feel her throat closing up with emotions. It’s happening again. 

Catra notices her panic and stretches a hand towards her, “Adora, wait. Let me explain.” Her voice is shaky and there are tears in her eyes, threatening to fall out. 

Adora turns around and runs out of the washroom, not knowing where she’s going. What she doesn’t know is that Bow, Glimmer, and Scorpia are outside waiting for them. 

When Adora runs out of the washroom, she runs directly into Bow. The two don’t fall onto the floor, since Bow saw her coming and braced himself. He instantly wraps her into a hug as she shakes. He looks down at her, “What happened?” Adora can see Scorpia run into the washroom to look for Catra. 

Adora shakes her head, “Can we go home, please?” 

Bow nods and, with Glimmer’s help, they lead the blonde to their car while also helping her breathe.

By the time they make it into the car, with Bow in the driver’s seat and Glimmer with Adora in the backseat, Adora has calmed down immensely. The cold air outside did wonders for her breathing. 

Adora leans her head on Glimmer’s shoulder and is about to fall asleep when the purple-haired girl asks, “Did Catra do this?” She doesn’t seem as angry as Adora thought she’d be, but she’s probably just holding in her anger for later.

Adora shakes her head, “This is all my fault.”

\----  
**Catra**

Adora just ran out of the washroom, and she can faintly hear the blonde crying outside.

Catra walks backwards until she hits a wall. Her knees give out and she slumps down on the washroom floor pitifully. Tears quickly pour out of her eyes as she drops her head onto her knees.

Why did she push Adora away? It’s not like she didn’t want Adora to kiss her. It’s all she’s wanted for weeks, and she ruined it. It’s ridiculous, but she knows exactly why she did it. 

While she wants Adora, Catra doesn’t want Adora to have to deal with her issues. All Catra has done to Adora is hurt her, what makes her sure she won’t do it again if they follow their feelings? The last thing Catra wants is to hurt Adora more than she’s already been hurt in her life.

She almost laughs at the irony of the situation. Catra pushes Adora away because she doesn’t want to hurt Adora, but she’s hurting Adora by pushing her away.

She hears someone run into the washroom and panics, hoping it’s not Adora. 

The person kneels down next to Catra, “What happened, Wildcat?” Catra almost sighs in relief at the sound of her best friend. 

She looks up with tears still coming out of her eyes, “This is all my fault.”


	10. I'll Never be Sorry Enough, but you Look so Beautiful

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catra and Adora deal with stress in very different ways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The ANGSTTT!!! This one hurt a little to write, not going to lie to y'all. It's definitely not as bad as the past chapters, but it's still sad. Adora deserves the world, but I just keep making her suffer in this omg. I'm actually sad that this fic is coming to a close soon :( I hope you guys like the ending I have planned. I think it's really nice. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this! If you do, you could leave a comment and/or a kudo! I greatly appreciate both and they never fail to inspire me and make me smile, even if I'm having a bad day.
> 
> Fair warning, though, this chapter does have a lot of content in it about not eating and the effects that has on the body, so keep that in mind.
> 
> The chapter title is from [THIS Tumblr post](https://kedreeva.tumblr.com/post/188188856758)
> 
> Ok bye bye!

\----  
**Adora**

Despite most of the panic having calmed by now, she still feels like her brain is completely overwhelmed with thoughts.

Adora barely even notices when the car stops in front of her apartment. Bow and Glimmer practically drag her up the stairs without uttering a word. 

The sound of the door closing behind her lets her know that she’s finally back in the safety of her apartment. She quickly withdraws from her friends still holding her up and walks to her room. Adora doesn’t necessarily slam her door per se, but it still closes much harder than she usually closes it. She sits on her bedroom floor with her back resting on the closed door and her knees pulled up to her chest.

Adora expects Bow and Glimmer to go to sleep, or maybe watch a movie in the living room. Anything other than put up with her. What she doesn’t expect is to hear Bow and Glimmer slide down onto the floor to sit beside Adora’s door. The blonde could almost cry again from how much she loves her best friends. 

Bow’s voice just about carries through the wooden door, “We’ll be here when you’re ready to talk, Adora.” 

She definitely doesn’t have the strength to talk right now, especially about what just happened, but maybe she doesn’t have to speak for them to know what happened. Adora slowly stands up and walks over to her desk, picking up a notebook and pen that Glimmer gave to her. She walks back to the door and sits in the same position as before.

Adora opens the book and writes down everything that just happened. From Catra helping her, to the flowers, to the kiss, and to Catra leaving her. She only notices the teardrops scattered on the paper when she’s done writing. Nevertheless, she rips the paper out and slides it underneath the door, waiting until either one of her friends takes the note. 

She hears scuffling outside the door and hushed whispers, but she doesn’t really care to focus on that right now. It’s only when she sees the same paper poking out the bottom of her door that she comes back to reality. Adora picks up the note and notices that the other side of the paper has new writing on it.

_Hi Adora,_

_We know you’re not ready to talk right now, and that’s okay. We’ll wait as long as you need. We just want you to know that we love you and that we hope you know that we’re not going anywhere without you. We’re the Best Friend Squad, we stick together! And about the Catra situation, that isn’t your fault at all. You didn’t do anything wrong, and there’s nothing wrong with you just because Catra doesn’t have feelings for you. We know you’re sad that Catra doesn’t feel the same way about you, but maybe you should try talking to her? Just to see what her point of view is in all of this._

_Love,_

_Bow and Glimmer._

_PS. That advice is from Bow and not Glimmer. She thinks that you should never talk to Catra again, but I don’t think that’s very good advice._

Adora reads the note and rereads it until her eyes are blurry with tears again. She’s surprised that Bow and Glimmer managed to read her mind so well. 

Adora did think something was wrong with her. For years, and even today. That’s the only explanation for why nobody is able to stay with her for more than a couple years. There has to be something so wrong about her that nobody can stand to be in her vicinity for too long. Something that makes her so unbearable that nobody is able to love her. It seems she’s already driven away Catra, she wonders how long it’ll take for Bow and Glimmer to leave, too. 

Adora turns her head to look at the closed door behind her. She tries to speak, but it sounds hoarse because of her crying. “Th-Thank you.” 

Eventually, the three of them fall asleep on the floor, with Bow and Glimmer leaning on each other and Adora leaning on her door. 

\----  
**Catra**

The ride back to her apartment is the most quiet Catra has ever heard Scorpia. The taller girl is driving in complete silence while Catra sits beside her and stares at the trees flying past the car. Eventually, Scorpia’s voice comes back.

“What happened?” She doesn’t sound angry or disappointed, just curious. 

Catra looks down at her lap, “Adora kissed me.”

Scorpia whips her head over to look at Catra but manages to tone it down a little, given the situation. “Isn’t that a good thing? I thought you wanted her to like you.”

“It is, and I do.” 

“So why aren’t you happy about that right now?”

Catra sighs, “Because I stopped her in the middle of the kiss.”

Scorpia does another double-take, “Why would you do that, Wildcat?”

Catra puts her head in her hands and pulls lightly on her scalp, “I don’t know, I just don’t know!”

The brunette leaves her head in her hands as Scorpia continues driving in silence. 

Once they make it home, Catra immediately gets out of the car and runs inside into her bedroom. She turns off her light and gets into bed while still wearing the same clothes. Normally, she would actually get ready for bed but she’s way too tired to do that right now. It’s pretty late at this point, and she goes to sleep quickly. 

By the time Catra is in bed, Scorpia finally makes it into the apartment, locking the door behind her. The white-haired girl sighs as she goes to her room to sleep, too. 

They would definitely be talking about this tomorrow but, right now, Scorpia really wants to go to sleep. 

\----  
**Adora, Five Days Later**

Her alarm clock blares out loudly at six-thirty in the morning. 

She groggily turns it off as she stands up. Immediately, her vision is almost overcome with darkness as she wobbles a little on her feet. Eventually, the dizzy feeling goes away and she continues getting ready for work. 

For the past five days, her new tactic for getting through each passing moment without wanting to crawl under a rock and cry is to just completely ignore all of her emotions, pretend everything is fine, and also barely eat at all. 

Adora didn’t really plan for that last one, but she hasn’t been able to eat anything without feeling like she wants to throw up. Besides, she’s not that hungry anyway.

Despite having left the Fright Zone years ago, the habits she’d built there still reside. This habit in particular has stuck with Adora for years. She’s very familiar with the feeling of finally eating after going a week without food, or how close she’ll get to unconsciousness before she’ll splash some water on her face so nobody will be suspicious. It’s not like Shadow Weaver would care if she ever had ever found out, though. If anything, she would probably be happy that she wouldn’t have had to deal with feeding another child with that disgusting cafeteria food. 

After changing into a comfy outfit and grabbing her apron, Adora leaves the comfort of her bedroom to go to the washroom.

Usually, she would wake up at six in the morning instead of six-thirty, but now that she’s not going on her morning run to avoid seeing Catra, she can cut that out of her schedule. With the extra time from not running and also not eating breakfast, Adora’s managed to practically cut her morning routine in half. She’s proud of that, but she can’t help the guilty feeling in her stomach at not listening to Bow and Glimmer begging her to eat for the past few days. 

They’ve been nagging her constantly, telling her that she needs to eat, but Adora refuses to listen. She’s not hungry and, even if she was, she doesn’t deserve to eat. Not after how much of a fool she made of herself with Catra. It’s almost like a little punishment, one thing in her life that she can control without worrying about it leaving. 

Once she’s done in the washroom, she leaves and checks her phone for the time. Six-fifty.

She’s about to go put on her shoes when she hears shuffling come from the hallway leading to the bedroom. In a panic, Adora tries to get out the door as quickly as possible, but she’s stopped by a very tired and very grumpy Glimmer stomping towards her and standing in front of her menacingly. Despite their height difference, the purple-haired girl is a lot scarier than Adora expected from someone named ‘Glimmer’.

Today, Bow and Glimmer don’t have work, but Adora does. The blonde was really hoping she wouldn’t run into either of them right now. Looks like she was wrong.

“Heyy, Glimmer. Wha-what's up?” 

The shorter girl crosses her arms, “Did you have any breakfast?” She definitely knows the answer to that question but wants to see what Adora will say.

Adora stammers endlessly before Glimmer groans loudly, but not loud enough for Bow to wake up. “Adora, you need to eat something.” Glimmer takes Adora’s hands in hers, “You _deserve_ to eat something.” Her eyes that were shimmering with anger moments ago are now filled with worry. 

Adora’s brows furrow at her best friend, “You- I don’t- I’m not hungry.” 

Glimmer sighs dejectedly as she turns and walks towards the pantry. She pulls a granola bar out and puts it in Adora’s hand tightly, “Just… promise me you’ll eat this, okay?”

“I promise, Glimmer.” Adora looks down at the granola bar sadly, knowing she won’t keep her promise. 

Glimmer seems to know this, too, but doesn’t say anything. Both of them know this can’t go on for much longer, it’s just a matter of who gives in first. She sighs, “Okay, you can go now. Bye, good luck at work today.” 

Adora smiles weakly, “Bye, Glimmer. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

The shorter girl nods as Adora closes the door lightly. 

As the blonde is walking down the stairs outside her apartment, she spots a head of white hair in front of the tattoo shop and speeds up. This is the first time she’s seen Scorpia since that day at the ice rink.

Despite basically sprinting to get to work, Scorpia still manages to notice Adora and walks up to her cautiously. Adora sighs in defeat as she stands in front of the taller girl.

“Hey, Scorpia.”

Scorpia smiles, “Hi, Adora.”

Adora looks down, debating whether she should ask or not. “Is um… Is Catra okay?”

Adora hears Scorpia sigh above her, “She’s… been better. Are you okay, though? You look a little pale. And tired.”

Adora looks up again, “Yeah, I’m fine. Just didn’t get enough sleep last night.” She’s always been a terrible liar, and Scorpia sees right through her. 

The tattoo artist decides not to say anything more about the subject, “Okay well, bye Adora.”

Adora nods and turns around to get to work. 

\----  
**Catra**

She faintly hears the door open and close from outside her bedroom door and groans loudly, knowing she won’t get any sleep. 

It’s been like this for the past few days. Every time Catra will sleep, her dreams will only be of Adora’s betrayed face after Catra pushed her away. She’s barely gotten any sleep because of it, and it’s been five of the most frustrating days of her life.

She groggily stands up and walks out of her room, squinting at the bright lights.

Scorpia turns and looks at her, “Oh good morning, Wildcat! Wanna eat breakfast with me?” Catra sighs and nods as she sits down at the dining table. 

Just as Scorpia pulls out a pan and some utensils, there’s a light knock at the door. The taller girl seems excited as she opens the door to reveal a very cheery-looking Perfuma. 

Catra sends a betrayed glare in Scorpia’s direction. Scorpia smiles sheepishly, “Breakfast with me… and Perfuma.” The tall blonde walks into the apartment and, upon seeing Catra, smiles brightly at her. “Hello, Catra! It’s so wonderful to see you.” 

Catra mumbles a ‘Good morning’ to her and looks down at her phone again. She hears shuffling around her as Perfuma takes a seat at the table and Scorpia continues making the three of them a quick breakfast.

Perfuma’s voice can just about be heard over the loud sizzling of bacon in the kitchen, “I’m sorry about what happened with Adora.” 

Catra whips her head around to look at Scorpia, “Are you fucking kidding me? You told your _girlfriend_ what happened?!” Scorpia turns around with a frown, “I’m sorry, Catra. I wanted some advice on what to tell you, and Perfuma was really helpful.”

Catra’s about to yell at Scorpia more when Perfuma places a gentle hand on hers, “I promise I won’t tell anyone, okay? This will stay between us.” The brunette sinks back into her chair, taking Perfuma’s hand off of hers, “Fine.”

Suddenly, Catra remembers something, “Hey, Perfuma. You work with Adora, right?” 

The blonde nods, confused.

“So, how has she been? You know, since…” She doesn’t have to finish her sentence for Perfuma to know what she’s talking about. 

Perfuma sighs, “It’s really not my place to say but, she’s been very… distant. Usually, she’s pretty happy at work and talks to us, but lately, she’s been so quiet and doesn’t smile that much. Also, she’s been skipping all of her lunches, and Bow and Glimmer told us that she hasn’t eaten at all in the past five days.” 

Scorpia walks over, balancing three plates on her prosthetic arms, “Yeah, I saw her earlier today and she looked sick. Really pale and tired. She told me that she didn’t get enough sleep last night, but she was totally lying.” 

A plate of bacon and eggs is placed in front of Catra, but her appetite has already been replaced by nausea at her friends’ words. As Perfuma and Scorpia eat their food, Catra places her head in her hands, “This is all my fault.” 

Perfuma shakes her head determinedly, “No, it isn’t, Catra. You’re not responsible for Adora’s bad habits.” 

“It is my fault, though! If I hadn’t pushed her away like that, she wouldn’t be _starving_ herself.” She feels tears pool in her eyes at the thought of Adora suffering because of her again, when she promised herself she would never be the cause of Adora’s pain again. 

“If anything, this is more my fault than yours.” 

Both Catra and Scorpia whip their heads around to look at the blonde. “What are you talking about? How could any of this possibly be your fault?”

Perfuma sighs, “Because I told Adora what the flowers on her tattoo symbolize.” 

Catra raises a brow at that. She never found out the symbolism of the flowers she permanently tattooed onto Adora’s arm. How could she be so stupid? “What do the flowers mean?”

Perfuma looks up at Catra, “Love… and new beginnings.”

Catra stands up quickly with a loud “WHAT?!” 

Scorpia lifts a hand up, “Catra, calm down. It’s not a big deal.” 

“WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN _IT’S NOT A BIG DEAL_?! I BASICALLY TATTOOED ‘I LOVE YOU’ ONTO ADORA’S ARM!” 

Perfuma tries to comfort Catra, “If it makes you feel any better, Adora thought it was just a coincidence.” 

Catra stops yelling and pauses. “She did?” 

Perfuma nods.

Catra chuckles, “Wow, that girl is an idiot.” 

\----  
**Adora, many hours later**

It’s getting harder and harder to keep working in her state, but she powers through the dizzy spells and fatigue. There’s only half an hour left of her shift, anyway. Adora knows that Mermista and everyone else working today can tell that she’s not feeling well, but she refuses to give in.

Today just so happens to be one of the days where Angella comes to visit the shop. She doesn’t come in every single day, sometimes opting to work at home, but today she does. The one day when Adora definitely does not want to see Angella, knowing that the woman will see right through her.

She finishes making a latte for a customer and hands it to Mermista to give to them. As she’s giving the large cup to the blue-haired girl, her hand shakes slightly. Angella definitely notices, and so does Mermista.

After she’s done with that customer, Angella and Mermista turn to look at Adora with skeptical eyes. Angella is the first to speak, “Adora, are you okay?” 

The blonde looks up at Angella, confused, “Of course I am, why wouldn’t I be?” She immediately regrets asking that, but it’s too late now. 

Mermista answers this time, “Because you look like total shit.” 

Adora chuckles dryly, “Wow, harsh.”

Mermista crosses her arms and frowns, “I’m serious, dude. You look like you’re about to pass out right now. You’re literally leaning on that counter for support.” She points to where Adora is placing almost all her weight on. 

Agnella sighs, “Adora, you haven’t been eating for days. You’re going to hurt yourself if you keep going on like this.”

Adora scoffs, “Guys, I’m fine! And I’m not leaning on the counter for support. Look, I’ll get off of it right now.” She stands up straight, and her vision is immediately clouded by tiny dots again. They should pass soon enough, and then she’ll be fine. Mermista calls out to the blonde, “Adora?” She can't see Mermista, though. Or much of anything, for that matter.

As soon as the dots only get worse instead of better and Adora can hardly stand, she knows she’s taken this too far. Her vision turns completely black and the last thing she hears is Angella yelling her name as she collapses and her head hits the floor. 

\----  
**Catra**

She’s outside after the end of her shift when she sees two people come out of the café, one of them carrying someone in their arms. Upon closer inspection, Catra sees a blonde being held by the owner of the coffee shop and immediately knows who it is. She runs over to them before they can make it to the stairs. 

Catra gently places her hands on Adora’s shoulder as she looks up at Angella, “What happened?” She already has an idea of what happened, but she desperately hopes she's not the reason Adora is unconscious right now.

Mermista scowls, “What does it matter to you? It’s not like you care about her, or anything.”

Normally, Catra would be angry at the false accusation. Now, though, she knows she deserves the mean words. “It does matter to me, and I do care about Adora. A lot.” 

Mermista is about to argue back when Angella interjects, “She fainted while she was working, Catra. Now, are you two going to keep arguing or should we head upstairs now?” 

Mermista groans and opens the front gate for Angella as the three of them head up. Angella knocks on the door and the group is led in by Bow and Glimmer.

The purple-haired girl paces around the room as Angella places a still-unconscious Adora on the couch, “I knew I should have stopped her. I should have made her eat more. This is all my fault.” 

Angella stands up straight, “This is not your fault, Glimmer. You tried your best, it’s not your fault Adora didn’t listen. The best thing we can do now is be here for Adora when she wakes up and help her.” 

Mermista nods, “Yeah. Besides, this is all Catra’s fault, anyway.” Catra’s about to ask why Mermista is the only one so angry at her when she realizes that they all probably feel the same way as her, but just aren’t saying anything.

Catra takes a step back from everyone as she looks down, “She’s right.” 

Glimmer crosses her arms with a huff, “Can you please leave, Catra? I don’t think Adora will want to see you when she wakes up.” 

Catra nods and turns to leave. Just when her hand touches the doorknob, she hears shuffling from the couch as a whimper comes from Adora. There’s some mumbling that nobody can understand, but Catra turns around. Adora stretches a hand out from the couch, “Catra, stay. Please.” Her voice is hoarse and shaky, but Catra still hears her. 

Catra walks over and kneels in front of the couch. She lightly takes Adora’s outstretched hand, “I’m not going anywhere, Adora.”

Adora turns to look into Catra’s mismatched eyes with hazy, unfocused grey-blue ones, “Promise?”

Catra smiles as she tightens her grip, “I promise.”


	11. As Long as We're Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catra and Adora talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHH!! THIS IS THE LAST OFFICIAL CHAPTER!! 
> 
> This chapter is almost completely fluff, with maybe a hint of hurt/comfort. I know you guys like the angsty chapters, but I really wanted to end this fic on a good note. 
> 
> And before you go!! I still have two more epilogue chapters planned that further the plot even more, so I highly recommend you stick around for those!! They're set a few years in the future, and a lot has changed by then :) One of the epilogue chapter is actually pretty angsty, so I'm really excited for that.
> 
> Anyway, If you like this chapter, you could leave a comment or a kudo, or both! They are both appreciated more than I can put into words, and I hope you guys know how much I love the support this fic has gotten. I'll leave the rest of my touchy-feely paragraph for the actual last chapter of this.
> 
> Ok, bye-bye!

\----  
**Catra**

Adora smiles weakly at her. She can hear shuffling behind her and a hushed conversation between Angella and her daughter. Catra doesn’t care about that, though. Not when Adora is looking at her like that.

Eventually, everyone in the apartment leaves, saying something about ‘giving the two of them privacy’. Glimmer doesn’t seem thrilled about leaving Adora but agrees to go begrudgingly. 

Catra waves them goodbye and, once the front door closes, turns to look at a very sleepy-looking Adora. 

The blonde peeks her eyes open and her small smile comes back. Catra grins down at her as she tightens her grip on her hand. 

Adora rubs her thumb on Catra’s hand, “You’re here.” She sounds genuinely shocked at that, which only works to make Catra feel even more guilty. In spite of her guilt, Catra nods lightly, “I am, Princess.” Adora giggles at the nickname.

Her eyes flutter shut again, “Okay, I’m gonna take a nap now, mkay?” If Catra weren’t worried about Adora’s health right now, the absolutely adorable sight of Adora napping while holding her hand would’ve made her heart melt. 

Catra places her right hand, which isn’t currently being held, on Adora’s shoulder and shakes her lightly to wake her up, “No, Adora, you can’t go to sleep. You have to eat right now so come on, wake up.” 

Adora groans, “Noo, I don’t wanna eat! I’m not even hungry anyway.” 

As if on cue, her stomach rumbles loudly. Catra chuckles at Adora’s obvious lie, “Adora, you just collapsed at work. You definitely need to eat, and you’re definitely hungry.” 

Adora sighs, defeated, “Okay.” She looks almost sad at the idea of eating again after five days of going without it. No, that’s not it. Scared, maybe?

“Ok, how about this. You tell me you’re favourite food in the world and I’ll get it for you, then we can eat it together. How does that sound?” Catra’s never heard her voice sound this gentle before. 

Adora ponders this for a moment before nodding with a smile, “Okay.” 

Catra grins, “Great, so what’s your favourite food?”

The smile on Adora’s face vanishes and is replaced by a slight frown, “I-I don’t have one.” 

The brunette tries a different approach, “Okay, so what was your favourite food when you were a kid?” Her eyes widen when she remembers where Adora grew up. That was one of the dumbest things Catra could have possibly said. 

Surprisingly, Adora chuckles quietly, “Well, the food options in the Horde were either brown protein bars or grey protein bars. The grey ones were so much better, though.” Adora looks up at Catra expectantly, with a frown. Catra knows immediately what Adora is expecting from her. She’s expecting a pity party from Catra and for her to say something like “I’m so sorry you went through that.” Catra, knowing that Adora would hate for her to say that more than anything, goes for an entirely different approach.

“Well that just won’t do, will it.” 

Adora scrunches her brows in confusion. Catra elaborates, “Ok, so here’s the plan. I’m going to order one thing from every take-out place that I know and you’re going to try them all and see which ones you like the most. Does that sound good to you?"

The blonde’s eyes almost sparkle in excitement at trying so many new foods, “It sounds great.” 

Catra stands up and calls every take-out place in Brightmoon she knows, ordering one thing that she thinks Adora will like from each and every one. She sits down on the single couch with a proud smile on her face. 

Just then, Adora scoots over so she’s mostly sitting up and pats the empty space beside her wordlessly. Catra stands up and gently sits down on the larger couch beside Adora. As she looks over at the blonde, she notices that she’s shaking from the exertion of holding herself up to leave space for Catra. 

The brunette sighs at the act. It’s a lot like Adora to put herself in a difficult situation just to make other people feel better. But not today. 

Catra extends one arm out in Adora’s direction with an unsaid request. Adora hesitates, “Are you sure?” The tattoo artist smiles at that, “Yes, I’m sure. Now come on, dummy.” 

\----  
**Adora ******

********

Adora grins and crawls over so that she’s leaning on Catra’s shoulder, with Catra’s arm around her. Adora feels Catra rest her head on top of hers. The two sit in comfortable silence as they wait for their food. 

The silence ends with Catra’s voice, “I’m so sorry, Adora.” She feels a tear fall into her hair. Adora burrows further into Catra’s embrace, hoping it’ll relax her, “For what?” 

“For pushing you away. You didn’t deserve that.” 

Silence passes for a few moments, then, “So… why did you do it?” 

“Because… Because all I do is hurt you. I want you, but I don’t want you to have to put up with my problems. It’s not fair to you. So, I pushed you away.” More tears come out, and she sniffles.

At the sound of Catra’s sniffle, Adora sits up as she looks Catra in the eyes with growing concern. “That’s not all you’ve done. You’re kind to me, and I don’t just put up with you, Catra. You’re one of the best people I’ve met.” 

Catra grows frustrated at that, “How can you say that, Adora?! I was such a bitch to you, I ruined your dress at Princess Prom, and then I left you when you kissed me. I’m a _terrible_ person.” It breaks Adora's heart to hear that Catra thinks that.

Adora places her hand on Catra’s cheek and wipes away the tears there. They’re replaced immediately after. “Sure, you were mean to me when we first met. But you changed, and you grew, and you’ve done nothing but do what you think is best for me since. You only left me because you thought it would be better for me. A bit of a dumb decision, if you ask me,” Catra giggles at that, “but I know that it was with good intentions.”

“I don’t want to drag you into my issues, though.” 

“You won’t, and if you do, I’ll stay. If anything, I’m dragging you into my issues.” 

Catra places her hand on top of Adora’s on her cheek, “No, you’re not. And… I want to stay, too. Even if that means dealing with our issues. As long as we’re together.” 

Tears form in Adora’s eyes, too. “Okay, then we’ll stay. Together.” 

The tears continue to pool and, eventually, fall down Adora's face. This is the first time someone has told Adora that they'll stay with her. That they won't leave. She's been waiting her entire life to hear someone tell her that. All those years spent wishing one person wouldn't leave her, and her wish finally came true. Adora knows immediately that Perfuma was right. That being vulnerable really was worth it. 

Their heads inch closer and closer together.

This time, Adora makes sure to ask Catra with her words to prevent any more miscommunication, “Do you want this?” 

Catra responds by kissing Adora. 

This kiss is a lot gentler than the first one, and way longer. Eventually, Adora is the first to pull away with a giddy smile. Catra has an almost identical smile on her face, too. They’re both blushing bright red.

Before either of them can say anything, the doorbell rings. Catra groans and stands up to get their food.

Slowly, over the next hour or so, the rest of the take-out food arrives. Dumplings, tacos, pizza slices, fries, burgers, and other fast food assortments are piled up on the dinner table in styrofoam containers and paper bags.

The two stand up and arrange all of the food to make a mini buffet of a variety of foods. They grab a couple of places and sit across from each other as they look at the options. Adora is almost scared to eat anything from the options. Catra decides to give her a helping hand. 

She places down her utensils and looks up at Adora, “Okay, so what are we starting with?” 

Adora looks up, grateful for a distraction, “We?” 

Catra nods, “Yes, _we_. I said we would eat together, didn’t I? Now come on, pick anything that you’re curious about and we’ll try it together.” 

Adora looks around at the dishes as she hums in consideration, “Uh… those things.” She points to the dumplings. Catra snickers, “You mean the dumplings?” Adora blushes sheepishly, “Yeah, those. They look good, can we try them?” 

Catra’s teasing smile turns soft, “Of course.” 

Catra takes the first dumpling, and then Adora follows. Catra lifts up her fork, “You’re supposed to use chopsticks to eat these, but those might be a little hard for you to use on your first try, so we’ll use forks.” 

Adora sighs in relief as she nods. There's no way she would know how to use those. They both put their fork into their dumpling and raise it up, keeping it above their plates so the soup will drip back into it. Adora stares at the dumpling as if it's wronged her personally in some way. She tries, so hard, to eat the dumpling, but she can't. She doesn't know why she can't, but she just can't. Maybe her brain wants to punish her for making Catra think she was a bad person. Maybe she deserves to not eat. Adora continues to stare until she sighs in defeat, “I can’t do it.” 

Catra smiles sadly, “It’s alright, Adora. How about I take a bite, and then you follow me.” Adora thinks for a moment before nodding shyly. She’s very embarrassed that she can’t eat right now, and Catra can tell. Catra extends a hand out in the direction of Adora’s other hand, “Hey, it’s okay that you’re struggling. It doesn’t make you weak.” Adora smiles and nods again, taking Catra’s hand in hers.

Catra raises the fork to her mouth and takes a bite of the dumpling as Adora watches nervously, knowing her turn is next. While Catra is still chewing on the food, she looks at Adora expectantly. 

Very slowly, Adora raises the dumpling to her mouth and takes a small bite. Her facial expression morphs from a look of fear to delight at the taste of the dumpling. She chews faster. Catra seems to forgive her, so maybe Adora should start to forgive herself. Maybe she can start by allowing herself to eat.

The tattoo artist smiles at the blonde, “Good job, Adora. I’m proud of you. Let’s keep going, okay?” The praise makes Adora smile as a light blush dusts her face.

The couple continues to go through everything that Catra got for them to eat. Every time they finish a dish, Adora will rate it out of ten. The more they go through the food, the more Adora will talk and the happier she’ll look. Throughout the entire meal, Adora has been holding onto Catra’s hand as much as possible, as if it’s the only thing tethering her to the table. 

Once they’re done eating, the two stand up and start to clean up all the plates and garbage. They sit back on the large couch in the same position as before, with Adora leaning on Catra’s shoulder and Catra’s arm slung tightly around the blonde. 

Adora groans from her place snuggled under Catra’s arm, “I’ve never eaten that much before.” 

Catra chuckles and presses a kiss to Adora’s forehead, “Do you feel better, though?” The small show of affection brings butterflies to Adora's stomach.

Adora lifts her head up and grins brightly, “Yes, I do.” Catra uses the hand wrapped around Adora to lightly ruffle her hair, which makes her giggle. 

The blonde looks into Catra’s mismatched eyes, “Hey, what… are we?”

Catra raises a brow at that, “What do mean?” 

Adora blushes, embarrassed, “Well, I mean, are we friends or uh…”

Catra laughs loudly at that, “Are you asking me to be your girlfriend, Princess? We kissed on this couch an hour ago.”

The blush on Adora’s face reddens significantly, “Uh-well-You-Uh… Yes?” 

The smile on Catra’s face softens, “Of course I’ll be your girlfriend, Adora. Would you like to be my girlfriend?” She tries to hold in her laugh, but it slips out slightly at how ridiculous she sounds. 

Adora starts laughing, too. “Yes, I would.”

They both lean in until their lips touch. Despite not being as strong as their other two kisses, this one is definitely Adora’s favourite. It’s lazy and relaxed and feels like it’ll go on forever.

Well, it would’ve, if they weren’t so rudely interrupted by the front door slamming open. They quickly pull away until they’re not touching at all as they look over to see a very panicked-looking Glimmer run in and inspect the apartment. Adora notices that Bow looks like he has heart eyes as he smiles at the couple. He definitely saw part of what just happened, but Glimmer definitely didn't.

Catra chuckles, “Is there something wrong, Sparkles?” 

Glimmer turns and, upon seeing Adora, runs up to her and pulls her into a tight hug, “Oh, I’m so glad you’re okay, Adora!”

Adora laughs as she pats Glimmer’s back, “Why wouldn’t I be, Glimmer? I was awake when you left, wasn’t I?” 

Glimmer pulls away from the hug to inspect Adora, “Well yeah, but then we all left! Left you with- with”

Catra interjects before Glimmer can finish that sentence, “What did you think I was going to do? Hold Adora hostage in her own apartment?”

The purple-haired girl crosses her arms with a huff, “Maybe! What _did_ you do, anyway?” 

A smug, proud grin plasters itself onto Catra’s face, “We got a _bunch_ of take-out and had a little buffet. It was very fun, and I think Adora here would agree.” She says all of that like some evil villain announcing their plan, even though that’s exactly what happened and she never had any ulterior motives. 

Glimmer doesn’t seem to notice that Catra’s just teasing her and begins flailing her arms around as she yells at the smug brunette, “What does that even _mean_? What did you do?! I swear, if you hurt Adora, I will-” 

Adora laughs loudly, “Glimmer, she didn’t hurt me! We actually did just eat some take-out. It was great, I got to try SO many new foods!” 

The shorter girl places her arms down beside her, “Really? That’s it?” 

Bow comes over from the front door, ready to ease the situation, “What Glimmer _means_ to say is that we’re so happy you’re okay now, and we’re grateful that Catra was here to help you. Right, Glimmer?” 

Glimmer mutters a yes as Catra stands up, “Well, this has been fun but I’ve got other things to do besides be here. See you guys later.” 

Catra stands up and walks over to the door, putting on her shoes. The blonde remembers one last thing she wanted to ask Catra. Adora stands up and runs out of the door just as Catra turns to go down the stairs. Adora grabs Catra’s hand lightly before she can make it down one step. 

Catra turns towards the blonde. Adora lets go of her hand and begins fidgeting with her own, “You’re not… going to leave, right? You’re staying?” 

Catra seems to knows exactly what Adora’s talking about, “I promised you that I would stay, and I will.” Catra turns fully and places Adora’s fidgeting hands in her own. 

“I’m not going anywhere, Adora.”

Adora smiles brightly, “Okay, good. I want you to stay.” 

Catra smiles and, before Adora can say anything else, she pulls her into a soft kiss. 

As they pull apart, Catra places a hand on Adora’s cheek.

“Then I guess I’m staying.”


	12. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A look into Catra and Adora's future. 
> 
> Over seven years in the future, to be exact.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was planning on posting this on Christmas day as a little Christmas present (Merry late Christmas, if you celebrated it!) but then a lot happened that day and I was way too emotionally drained to write a chapter. I also know I said I'd write two epilogue chapters, but I'm not doing that anymore. I'm just dealing with some personal issues right now, and I kind of just want this fic to be done with now. If any of you were curious, I relapsed back into self-harm 13 days ago after going without it for a month and a half. Before that month and a half, I had gone 3 years without hurting myself. So technically, I'm dealing with a similar issue as Adora in this chapter! 
> 
> Anyway, I really hope you guys enjoyed this fic! If you did, you could leave a kudo or a comment or both! I can't thank you guys enough for the support this fic got. It blows my mind how many people liked this, and it was so motivating to hear your thoughts. I absolutely loved writing this fic, and all of your support has inspired me to write another fic after this! It has nothing to do with this one, but I hope you guys check it out once I post it :)
> 
> Ok, bye-bye!
> 
> TW: blood, violence, panic attacks, self-harm (almost)
> 
> This chapter is a bit of a doozy so only read this if you're sure you're comfortable with the warnings.

\----  
**Adora**

Shadow Weaver’s painful grip on Adora’s face disappears as she’s tossed onto the ground like garbage.

"Why did I expect any better from someone as weak and helpless as you are."

Adora tries to defend herself, “I’m-I’m not w-weak.”

Shadow Weaver chuckles darkly, “Oh, come on, Adora. You and I both know how pathetic you are. The evidence is on your arms.”

Adora's teary eyes widen at that and more tears pour out. Shadow Weaver sneers at the crying blonde on the floor, "Look at them." Adora looks up, confused. Shadow Weaver elaborates with a sigh.

"Take off your jacket and look at the proof of how weak you are."

She takes off her jacket and rolls her sleeves up.

There, on her inner forearms, lie angry, scarred lines that go from left to right across the entire width. Shame and guilt overrun her as she looks at the marks. Her sobs get louder. Tears and blood drip down onto her arms. She barely even feels the frigid temperatures on her jacket-less body and the freezing snow falling onto her bare forearms.

Above her, Shadow Weaver crosses her arms with an angry scowl, "See? Weak. Pathetic. Worthless. Unlovable.”

Normally, this would be when Huntara and Lonnie would stop Shadow Weaver from going any further, but that’s not the case in this nightmare.

Shadow Weaver continues to shout demeaning words at the blonde as she kicks her while she lays in the snow. This continues to go on until blood comes out of Adora’s mouth into the snow and there’s searing pain coming from her abdomen.

She turns to leave, but not before sighing, “You deserve this, Adora.” Shadow Weaver walks away. 

Adora looks up at the apartment above the tattoo shop and sees Catra watching in the window with a disappointed scowl on her face. The look on her face hurts more than the bruises and bleeding. 

Catra walks away.

Adora’s blood continues to seep into the snow, the contrast of the deep red on the perfectly-white snow stark. 

She knows then that she’s spent her entire life alone, and will continue to spend her life alone forever. How could anyone care about someone as stupid and helpless as her? How could anyone love her when she’s so incredibly weak?

\----

Adora doesn’t awaken with a gasp, or by quickly sitting up in the bed she shares with her wife. Her eyes flash open wide in fear, but that’s the only indication that she’s awake. She stops breathing so that Catra, sleeping peacefully beside her, won’t wake up from her sobs. Her entire body is shaking, but she’s frozen in place.

She hopes, prays, that she’ll relax eventually. When, after ten minutes of trying to conceal her panic, she only feels worse, she knows this won’t pass any time soon. 

Adora turns to her wife, Catra. 

She looks so beautiful right now, asleep as the slight moonlight from outside gleams down on her body. Adora doesn’t know what she did to deserve someone as amazing as Catra. She looks down at her wedding ring, the ring that Catra gave to her on their wedding day.

After waking up from fainting at work, Catra was there to help Adora. There, on that fateful day, the two of them decided to stay together. They dated for four years before Adora finally proposed. Catra said yes, obviously, and the couple got married a year after that. Their wedding was two years ago, and Adora couldn’t be happier with the life she’s built with her wife and friends. Her family. 

She did have some bad days, though.

Coming back to the present, Adora realizes that she’s still crying and that she’s shaking uncontrollably now. 

Adora promised Catra years ago that any time she had a nightmare or a bad day, she would tell her. For the most part, she kept her promise. Every single time, in fact. But Adora can’t let Catra see her right now. She’s being too weak, and she doesn’t want to burden Catra with her problems. 

She very slowly stands up and, while still trying to hold in her tears, tiptoes to the washroom of their shared apartment. 

A few years into their relationship, Catra and Adora moved out of their respective apartments and moved into one together. It was mainly to just go to that next step in their relationship, but also because it was a lot closer to Brightmoon University.

After what happened to Adora with Shadow Weaver, they filed a lawsuit against her for assault. They didn’t file it just for what happened that day outside Adora’s apartment, they also filed it for the years of abuse that Adora, and others in the Fright Zone, endured under her ‘care’. While Adora was trying to get justice for those kids, she realized how much she loved helping them. After thinking long and hard about it, Adora decided to go back to college to get her bachelor of social work. She was met with unconditional support from her friends and her girlfriend at the time, Catra. That was five years ago. Now, Adora’s gotten her bachelor’s and is working on getting her master’s. 

Adora walks into the washroom and shakily closes the door. She would have locked it in her shaky hands didn’t make it so difficult.

Her tears come out more as she turns back to look at her reflection in the mirror. There's a red ring around both her eyes, and tear tracks going down her face. Her entire face is blotchy red from trying so hard to keep her emotions inside. She looks like a complete mess.

As she looks at herself, crying in her bathroom in the middle of the night, she can’t help but be reminded of what Shadow Weaver said to her in her nightmare.

_“You deserve this, Adora.”_

Adora very slowly opens one of the drawers and pulls out a pair of scissors. She’s already wearing a tank top, so she doesn’t have to worry about rolling her sleeves up or getting blood on them.

She pauses when she realizes where her thoughts are going. No, she can’t do this. She won’t. She promised Lonnie she would never do this again. Despite that, Adora does want to. Maybe it’ll make her feel better. Maybe it’ll help her release some of her emotions. _Maybe she deserves it._

Adora shuts her eyes tightly in an effort to quell those thoughts. Instead, she thinks of how Catra would react to seeing even more scars on her arms. The heartbreak in her eyes as she looks at her arms, thinking it’s her fault. She can’t do that to her. She refuses to ever hurt Catra again.

With a loud slam of metal on porcelain, Adora throws the scissors into the sink. She can’t believe she almost threw away all her progress over a silly little dream. She walks backwards shakily until she hits a wall and slides down so she’s curled up in a ball on the floor. 

Faintly, Adora can hear herself crying loudly. She knows she has to stop, to not wake up Catra, but she can’t. She can’t move, she can’t think, she can’t breathe. 

It’s then that she realizes she’s gasping for breath as she sits on the cold floor, but she can’t do anything to help herself.

\----  
**Catra**

The first thing she registers when her eyes blearily open is the blanket, which is supposed to be up by her shoulders, down by her waist. 

Catra swipes a hand over the space in the bed that usually has her wife on it. When all she feels is wrinkled sheets under her hand, she sits up. She looks around their shared bedroom for Adora as she turns on one of the lamps on their nightstand. 

She knows that Adora’s probably just getting a glass of water or something. It’s ridiculous that she still doubts Adora, after all these ye-

Her thoughts are cut off by a loud clattering sound in the direction of the bathroom. Catra waits to hear another sound, hoping it was just her imagination or maybe a raccoon outside. When she hears someone crying loudly and gasping for breath, Catra shoots out of bed and leaves her room quickly to find the sound. 

Catra runs in front of the washroom door and is about to open it quickly when she remembers that that might overwhelm Adora right now. She instead opts to slowly open the door and tiptoe in so as to not scare her away. 

She’s so quiet when she walks in, in fact, that Adora doesn’t even notice her. Catra’s heart breaks at the sight in front of her. 

Adora’s curled up in a tight ball with her hands looped around the top of her head, as if protecting herself from a hit. She’s shaking enough that Catra can see it from across the room with the only light source being the fluorescent lights above them as she sobs into her knees quietly. It’s obvious she’s desperately trying to muffle her cries, which only works to make Catra sadder.

The brunette has done everything she can to get Adora to understand that she doesn’t have to hide her vulnerability from her. Usually, Adora knows that and trusts Catra when she’s vulnerable. Sometimes, though, her brain will convince her that everyone is judging her for her weakness and that Catra will leave her one day. 

Catra vows to herself then that she will do absolutely everything she can to convince Adora that she’s not weak and that she deserves the love and support Catra and all her friends give her. She'll do whatever she can to convince Adora that she'll never leave her.

The tattoo artist slowly walks closer to the blonde. She must have been walking a little too loudly because the blonde’s head suddenly shoots up and her eyes widen so much they look like they’re about to pop out of her head. Adora’s breathing quickens significantly as she stares at the brunette.

Catra kneels down in front of Adora as she tries and fails to breathe, “It’s okay, Adora. You need to breathe, okay?”

Adora just shakes her head. Through her panting and crying, Catra can just about hear Adora’s shaky voice, “No- no you can’t s-see me like this. I-I almost...” Adora trails off as she looks up at the sink. Catra stands up slightly and peers inside to see a pair of scissors laying inside of it. She connects the dots instantly as she looks down at Adora’s forearms to make sure she didn’t do any harm.

Despite not having done anything, Catra feels her heart crack a little more at the thought of Adora almost hurting herself again. If Shadow Weaver weren’t rotting in a jail cell somewhere right now, Catra would love to beat the ever-living crap out of her for everything she did to someone as amazing, strong, and kind-hearted as Adora. She deserved so much better than Shadow Weaver.

Catra shifts closer to Adora, “No, honey, it’s okay to ask for help. Can I touch you?” Those kinds of terms of endearment have become common for the couple, but they're especially common when one of them is vulnerable. Like now. 

Adora looks up at Catra with more relaxed eyes, as if really looking at her for the first time tonight. She nods slowly. Catra moves up and grasps both of Adora’s hands in her own. The blonde seems to immediately relax under the touch, which brings the ghost of a smile to Catra’s lips.

“We’re going to take deep breaths now, okay? Four in, four out. I’ll start.” Catra takes in a deep breath for four seconds and then exhales slowly for another four. Adora watches intently as she breathes quickly in front of her. Catra looks at her with a small smile, “Now we’re going to do it together. One, two, three, breathe…” She counts down slowly, giving Adora enough time to prepare. 

Adora tries to inhale slowly, but instead, she gasps out in quick breaths. She starts panicking again at the loss of breath and begins hyperventilating. 

Catra quickly takes her hands out of Adora’s and instead places them on the sides of her arms, “Adora, you can breathe. You just need to take in one big breath, okay? Just keep trying, you’ll get it. Breathe at the pace of my hands.” 

Her hands rub slowly up and down Adora’s arms at intervals of four. Slide up for four seconds, slide down for four seconds, and repeat. 

Adora tries, and tries, and on the third try, manages to take in one big breath of air. She almost looks surprised that it finally worked and that she didn’t just collapse. 

Catra continues her motion, “Great! That was great, Adora. I’m proud of you. Now let’s keep going.” 

Adora seems to relax more at the praise as she manages to take a few more ragged breaths while looking down. Catra follows the same pace as Adora as she continues her motions up and down her arms. 

After a few minutes of Adora and Catra breathing together, Adora looks up with a shaky smile. Catra stops her motions and the two sit together in silence as Catra waits for Adora to say something.

Adora’s voice is weak and raspy from crying, “Thank you.” 

Catra smiles warmly at her, “Of course, Adora. I love you.” 

Despite all these years of hearing Catra say those three words, Adora still always smiles brighter when she hears them. Today isn’t an exception. “I love you, too.”

Catra brings the subject back to what just happened, “You know you don’t have to hide from me when you have a panic attack, right? I won’t think any less of you.” 

Adora looks down again with a frown, “I don’t want to make my problems you’re burden to carry. I should be able to deal with them on my own.”

Catra grabs both of Adora’s hands tightly. Adora looks up, slightly confused. “Adora, please make them my burden to carry. I don’t want you to carry the weight of all your problems by yourself. I don’t want you to deal with that alone. Let me help you, okay?” Her voice gets quieter at the last sentence. The last thing Catra wants is for Adora to think that she has to deal with all her problems by herself, without the help of her wife of all people. It stings slightly to think that Adora doesn’t trust Catra enough, even after all these years.

Adora looks up slowly, “Are you sure? What if you get tired from dealing with my problems? What if you start hating me for forcing you to deal with my problems?” 

It’s then that Catra realizes that this has nothing to do with trust, and everything to do with Adora not wanting Catra to suffer. It warms her heart that, even when dealing with her own issues, Adora is still always thinking of Catra. It also makes her even angrier at Shadow Weaver for forcing Adora to believe that she has to suffer alone just so nobody else will.

Catra smiles warmly again, “Yes, I’m sure. I’ll tell you if I get tired, okay? And I could never hate you, Adora.” 

Adora nods sheepishly, “Okay.”

They sit there in silence as Adora looks down at the floor and thinks way too loudly. 

Before Catra can ask her what’s wrong, Adora murmurs, “I can’t believe I almost-” Tears well up in her eyes again and she cuts herself off. 

Catra moves forward, “Can I hug you?” Adora can get very touch-averse after a panic attack, so Catra always makes sure to ask before touching her at all. Adora nods and pulls her knees down. The brunette slides forward and pulls Adora into a warm hug, which the blonde immediately reciprocates by wrapping her arms tightly around her wife. She buries her face in the crook between Catra’s neck and shoulder. 

Catra brings a hand up to stroke her head and run her fingers through the silky golden hair underneath her. “It’s okay that you almost did, love.” Adora hugs her tighter, seemingly getting frustrated, “No, it’s not! I was being so weak-” Her voice is muffled by Catra’s t-shirt. 

Catra cuts her off, “You weren’t being weak, Adora. You’re the strongest person I’ve ever met, and you’re not any less strong just because you almost relapsed.” 

Adora brings her head up to look Catra in the eyes, “Do you really think so?” She sounds genuinely curious, which makes Catra frown. 

“I’m absolutely certain. From now on, can you please tell me when you want to hurt yourself? I won’t think you’re weak. I want to be here for you.” 

Adora brings her head back down to rest on Catra’s shoulders, “Are you sure it won’t annoy you?” 

Catra can’t even imagine a universe where Adora telling her when she gets the urge to self-harm would be an _annoyance_. She leans her head down on Adora’s, “I could never be annoyed at you for something like this, Adora. I would much rather you tell me than deal with it all by yourself.”

Adora thinks for a moment, then nods, “Okay, I’ll tell you.” 

Catra smiles gently, “I’m so proud of you, Adora. I’ve never met anyone as strong as you.” Adora blushes slightly at the praise as she smiles and burrows her head further into Catra’s shoulder. 

The couple sits there for what could have been three seconds or half an hour. Eventually, Adora brings her head up slowly. Her eyes are half-closed, as if she was seconds away from falling asleep on Catra’s shoulder. “Can we go to bed, now?” 

Catra smiles sleepily and nods. She stands up slowly, while also pulling Adora up with her. Adora looks completely exhausted right now and leans most of her weight on Catra, who is happy to be Adora’s support.

The two slowly make their way to their bedroom. Once they arrive, Catra leads Adora to her side of the bed and makes sure she’s comfortable under the blanket. When she’s certain her wife is comfy, Catra goes around to her side of the bed and slides in. 

Immediately, Adora pulls Catra closer to her and puts her head on Catra's chest. Adora wraps an arm around Catra's waist. The brunette smiles warmly and wraps her arms around the tired blonde.

The tattoo artist looks down to see Adora’s eyes drooping closed, likely exhausted from having spent so much energy in her panic. 

Catra kisses the top of Adora’s head, “You don’t have to be ashamed of yourself, okay?”

She feels Adora nod under the crook of her neck, “Okay. I love you so much.”

Catra smiles sleepily, “I know. I love you, too. So much.” 

Adora hums happily as her breathing evens out and she falls into a quick and nightmare-free sleep. Catra leans her face into the soft wheat-coloured hair under her as she follows Adora into a calm slumber.

The last thing both of them think before falling asleep is: “How did I get so lucky to meet someone as amazing as her?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaand that wraps up this fic, everyone!
> 
> Okay, I KNOWW epilogues are supposed to be happy, but why not make mine full of angst? At least it has a happy ending, right?
> 
> I would like to thank everyone who commented on this fic. You're the reason I didn't give up on this work and stop writing. Your kind words and opinions on my writing always made me smile and I don't know what I would've done without it. 
> 
> This fic was so fun to write, and I'm so glad I got back into writing again. I hope you guys enjoyed this fic as much as I enjoyed writing it, and I hope some of you enjoy my future works :)
> 
> my tumblr username is eloquentsapphic if you guys want to go and yell at me over there ;)
> 
> Have a great day, and I hope 2021 goes well for all of you!


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